Scratching The Surface
by BlackLynx17
Summary: He doesn't love this her, she doesn't love that him. Once they scratch the surface though perhaps they will find out what it really means to truly love someone for who they are.
1. Chapter 1

**BlackLynx17: Hello! This is my first Lady Bug fanfiction, so I hope I do the cartoon justice. I've become a really big fan recently, I'm even thinking about cosplaying as Lady Bug for the next expo coming up, so I wrote this because of my fandom. This story takes place between episodes and I mention some of the episodes as well, just small things though that happened. That's about it, hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 **Scratching The Surface.**

 **Chapter 1.**

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Leather does not help with sweat.

If anything it makes it worse because now he feels like his outfit is two sizes too small. It's sticking to his skin, his sweat running down his neck into his suit, slipping further down his back to his regions he doesn't want to think about right now. The heat has never bothered him before, but the sun shining on him right now is absolutely killing him. Sweat, leather, sun, dying, now is not a good time to-

No, no, he's done making excuses. He can't make up another one, he's already made up so many before. He swore to himself that today is going to be the day, it has to be today... he can't wait another day not knowing that they could be together already if he only had the courage to ask.

Asking out the opposite sex has to be the bravest thing in the world, more dangerous than anything else in the world including fighting bad guys. He doesn't know how people do it on a daily basis, how the world is as populated as it is. He wishes he had some of those people's courage, the courage to put himself out there and risk... risk...

No! He will not think of that word! He won't jinx himself, he won't back out of this, he won't-

"Chat Noir? There you are; do you have any idea how long it took me to come find you?"

He feels his heart sink all the way down to his stomach; he can't gulp down the ball that's logged its way in his throat, he can only turn around and see his beautiful ladybug jumping up to where he is, shaking her hair as she leans up, resting her hand on her cocked out hip as she poises. She could be a model, a beautiful model, they could even model together sometimes. Adrien and Lady Bug- no, Adrien and whoever she really is behind the mask.

"Hello? Chat Noir? I'm talking to you. Do you have any idea how long it took me to find you? All you left me was a note and your signature; you're lucky someone posted a picture of you online sitting at the Eiffel Tour or else I probably wouldn't have found you."

Oh no, the tone in her voice sounds like she's not happy. He's already ruining this moment between them. Come on already, speak. Speak!

"Aw, you were looking for moi? I'm flattered, really I am Lady Bug. You should already know though that whenever you call out my name I'll always be there for you."

The feline inside of him awakens and takes over his body, trying to entice her with sweet words as he walks over and takes her hand, leaving a kiss on it to mark his territory. What is he doing right now? She doesn't fall for things like this! The expression on her face right now says so!

"I mean- sorry, I just-... I drew a picture of the Eiffel Tour as a hint. Didn't you see it?" Chat Noir leans back up, taking his hand away from hers to rub the back of his neck.

He instantly regrets it feeling the sweat forming back there; he laughs awkwardly rubbing his hand on the side of his suit, taking a step into the shade of the tower hoping that it will cool him down. Her blue eyes watch his every move, her body moving along with him to face him. At that moment the sun hits her in all the right places and she's... she's simply beautiful. More beautiful than any model he's ever seen, more beautiful than any sunrise or sunset. He's the luckiest man in the world to see a wonder like this, probably the only man in the world who will ever see a wonder like this.

"Oh, is that what all those scratches were? I thought you were just sharpening your claws. You know the mayor isn't going to like you tagging and destroying public property like that."

"I'm sure he won't mind, after all if it wasn't for us he'd be fixing up a lot more than just one side of a building." He winks at her with a smile.

Stop that right now! His flirting doesn't work! Besides, he's not here to flirt, but to confess his undying love to her. Keep that in mind, keep it in mind! Chat Noir takes a deep breath in and sighs it out of his mouth, bouncing in place to shake it off. Lady Bug raises an eyebrow at him, but decides not to ask. She really doesn't have the time to be playing these games with him, especially with the test she has tomorrow in which she hadn't study for at all! Plus it's about to be sunset, so her parents are bound to be wondering where she is right now. Honestly Lady Bug is surprised they haven't called her already; they must really trust her-

"I wouldn't have to do those things anyway if I simply knew who you were underneath the mask."

Her eye twitches, "is that what you called me out here to talk about? Chat Noir, I have more important things to do than discuss secret identities. Why does it matter so much to you anyway? Our teamwork is flawless, knowing who I am won't change that. If anything it'll make our lives more complicated if we do actually know each other. It'll be another secret we have to keep from our friends and our-"

"I love you Lady Bug!" He blurts out.

Lady Bug's mouth falls open, Tiki screaming and cheering in her ears as she fangirls over this. Chat Noir ignores his own kwami's congrats about him finally being able to confess his feelings, he ignores everything around him except for her.

Her, staring at him with her wide blue eyes, her luscious pink lips making a perfect 'O' shape from his confession.

Her, who he's been in love with since the first time they've fought crime together.

Her, who is just standing in front of him right now saying nothing, doing nothing other than staring at him with her hypnotizing eyes.

It's too late to take anything back, and now that he finally confessed his hidden feelings after so long it doesn't feel as scary to do it a second time.

"I'm in love with you Lady Bug. This isn't a joke or a tease, I'm not flirting with you just to get a rise, all those times before when you brushed me off those were actually moves I was trying to win you over with. I'm in love with you, and sure right now it might only be with the mask, but I'm sure even without it on I'll fall for the girl too because... well because how different can you really be? These are 100% my honest feelings and I want to know your 100% honest feelings as well. I'm ready to tell you everything, show you everything, I've been ready for so long. All you have to do is say the word and I'll do it Lady Bug. I'm ready to be honest."

The sweat isn't bothering him anymore, nor his tight outfit, or the burning heat from the sun. He actually walks back into it, step by step, until he's standing right in front of her. She has to look up at him because he's so tall and she doesn't think she's ever noticed it before. Chat Noir, no matter how much of an annoying and useful partner he's been, is a man. He's always been a man, she's just never seen it before. His chest is more puffed out, his posture straighter than usual, the expression on his face... so serious. A strand of his hair is a little out of place and she wants to reach out and brush it back into place, but she knows that will send the wrong message. No matter how much of a man he truly is, no many how many times he's saved her life, no matter how honest and pure his feelings are... no matter how hard it is going to be to tell him, she's in love with Adrien. She's always been in love with him and those feelings aren't wavering in the slightest after hearing his confession.

He isn't the one for her.

"I'm sorry."

His world comes crumbling apart.

"I never knew, I thought flirting was just second nature to you, you always seemed like a playboy to me- well playcat, but thinking back I don't remember you flirting with any of the women we've saved before."

He doesn't know how he's still standing up right now.

"I know how strong you had to be to be able to confess like that, even I'm a little jealous. I wish I had half of your courage Chat Noir."

 _Adrien? It's going to be okay._

"I hope this doesn't change anything, but I simply can't accept your feelings Chat Noir. I'm sorry."

The familiar sounds of beeping saves him from continuing on this conversation. From putting a fake smile on and shaking it off, playing it off as a joke or something to keep her from thinking she's hurt him; from acting like this isn't breaking him apart, body and heart, and saying those dreadful words of we're still friends.

Because friends is something he doesn't want to settle being with her.

He wants love.

He wants lovers.

He wants dates in the park, kisses in the the rain, a single moment where their eyes meet and love flashes between the two of them in the heat of battle. He doesn't want friendship, he doesn't think he can handle being her partner for the years to come, always beside her, but never with her.

 _Adrien, our time is about to run out._

"I have to go." Chat Noir spits out, balling up his hands so tightly his claws start digging into his palms.

"Chat Noir wait-"

"I'm sorry, but if I don't you'll find out who I am and I bet that's another thing you don't want me to _burden_ you with."

He doesn't mean to hurt her, he doesn't mean to make her face scrunch up together in pain by his sharp tongue, but he can't help it. He wants her in pain, he wants her feeling a least a quarter of what he's feeling right now by her rejection. He turns around so all she'll see is his broad back, not his crippled front as the tears start to come out.

"I'll see you around."

"Chat Noir!"

For a second he doesn't think about saving himself as he jumps off the tower; he thinks about letting himself fall to his doom, to his death, finding piece in heaven. Heaven is a paradise, right? Where all your dreams are suppose to come true? For a second he wonders if he'll see her up there? The real her.

 _ADRIEN!_

He could never do that to Plagg, or his friends, even to his father. His sharp green eyes open up wide and he flips back, kicking himself off the tower to a lamp post, grabbing it and spinning around to a halt before he let's himself drop on the ground. His feet cripples underneath his weight and he falls on his butt.

Whoever said cats always land on their feet obvious has never been rejected before.

 _Adrien? Our time-_

"I know Plagg," Chat Noir sniffs wiping his eyes, "I know."

He doesn't even bother trying to make it home knowing the tears in his eyes blind his sight too much. He settles for the next best thing, a public bathroom where he shuts himself inside of a stall and curls up on the ground, crying out loud in the empty room. Plagg floats around him, a thick frown on his face. He settles right on his hand and rubs his cheeks against it, showing him that he's there.

"At least you finally said it Adrien, at least she finally knows how you feel."

"I know, I know this is a good thing, I couldn't have lasted another day without her knowing. That doesn't make this situation suck any less though."

Plagg sighs, "I know Adrien, I'm sorry. I'm always going to be here for you though."

He needs to hear that, but not right now. No, the only thing he needs to hear right now is nothing. No support, no kind words, nothing to make this situation sound better than what it really is. He wants this pain, he wants this suffering. All of this that he's feeling right now is going to help him become stronger the next time he sees her. The next time he'll smile and act normal, throw in a few flirts to make her think he's back to his usual ways. He'll get it all out right now, so that the next time they meet things will be alright.

For right now though it's okay that nothing is alright. His first love, his first adventure... over before it even started without even the chance of being made into a beautiful love story.

This is a beautiful ending to a perfect tragedy.


	2. Chapter 2

**BlackLynx17: Thanks everyone! Sorry for the first chapter I threw at you, but I promise this is where all the good, gooey, fluffy stuff happens, wink, wink. Hope you enjoy!**

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 **Scratching The Surface.**

 **Chapter 2.**

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"Ooooh... oooooooh... mmmmmnnn."

"Marinette, if you keep making that expression your face is going to be stuck that way."

"Mhhhn," Marinette sighs out, hardly listening to her best friend as she stares at the empty seat in front of her next to Nino.

Alya follows her best friend's eyes to the empty seat of her not-so-secret-crush and then understands everything. The reason why she's nibbling on her bottom lip, why her eyebrows are nit together tightly, why those bright and bubbly eyes of her are dull today, and why she's making those strange noises.

"Hey Nino, why isn't Adrien here today?" Alya calls out.

Marinette gasps and grabs a hold of her best friend, planning on covering her mouth or strangling her, either one would shut her up, but her best friend had to be cursed with longer arms than herself. Alya easily holds her back and giggles lightly as she stares at Nino.

"He texted me this morning saying he wasn't feeling all that well, but that's about it." Nino tells her.

Marinette freezes and covers her mouth. Her Adrien? Sick? How sick? Deadly sick? Like he only has 24 hours to live perhaps sick? Or even worse, 2 hours to live? Marinette opens her mouth to voice her anguish and ask Nino for more details, but someone seems to beat her to the punch.

"What did you just say Nino? Ugh, my poor Adrien in bed with a cold?" Chloe sighs out dramatically, leaning against the desk with the back of her hand on top of her forehead, "oh this is horrible! He's probably lying in bed right now waiting for me to nurse his poor sick self back to health. Sabrina! Cancel all of my prior engagements after class and go run to a store to buy Adrien- I mean me some hot chicken noodle soup so I can give it to my poor Adrien. He'll be so pleased when he sees me and sees how much I care I'm sure he'll jump right out of bed to give me a kiss. Oh," Chloe starts imagining everything in her mind, blushing and "kyaaa!"-ing when she sees it all now.

"Right away Chloe, that won't be a problem at all." Sabrina says tapping away on her phone.

Marinette gnaws on her pencil's eraser while Alya rolls her eyes and points a finger to her mouth, making the motion of throwing up. Nino scoots his chair away from Chloe as she now lay ontop of his desk, shaking her head with worriment for a man she only dreams about getting.

"Uh- I'm remembering in the text that Adrien said he didn't want anybody visiting him right now, so I don't think that would be the best idea Chloe." Nino says.

Chloe immediately straightens up and scoffs, "ugh, I think he must of meant everyone else in this classroom, but he couldn't have meant me. I am his girlfriend after all."

Marinette's pencil breaks.

"Ha, in your dreams," Alya scoffs.

"I heard that!" Chloe snaps at her.

"No, I'm pretty sure he meant everyone. I mean, if you were actually his girlfriend, as you call yourself, I'm sure he would have called or texted you about his sickness."

All eyes in the classroom turn to Chloe, who's face turns bright red in embarrassment. She growls out and stomps her feet on the ground.

"Ah! Whatever, I have more important things to do right now anyway. Sabrina! Cancel that order! We're going shopping!" She growls stomping out of the classroom.

"Yes, right away Chloe!"

"Hahaha, nice one there Nino," Alya smiles clapping his hand.

"No problemo, I don't think Adrien would like someone posing as his girlfriend without his permission. I have to look out for my best friend after all."

Alya looks down at her best friend and sees the kicked puppy dog look on her face; speaking of looking out for best friends.

"Did you really mean what you said? About Adrien not wanting to see anyone?"

"That? Well, he didn't really say that, but when I offered to come over and check on him he made it clear that he didn't need me to."

Alya smiles and nods her head, "is that so?"

"Alright class, settle down. We're about to get started- oh? Where's Chloe and Sabrina? I was sure I saw them in the morning?"

"They ditched to go shopping!" Alix answers raising her hand.

"Oh, shame on them then. Alright then class, good afternoon! I hope everyone had a nice weekend! Now if you open your textbooks to where we left off we can continue-..."

"Marinette? You heard that right?" Alya whispers under her breath, digging in her purse for her textbook.

"Yeah, she forgot about the test today. Hopefully she doesn't remember at all." Marinette squeals.

"No, about Adrien. Now's your chance. You can totally go see him and bring him some warm soup."

Marinette gasps, "no I can't. You heard Nino-"

"Yes I did, and if you were listening you would have heard him say Adrien never said he didn't want anyone visiting, only that Nino didn't need to check up on him. Even if he gets mad you can just say that Nino never said no one could visit, but who would actually get mad at a pretty girl bringing warm soup over? Ha," Alya snorts.

"I don't know Alya, I don't think I should." Marinette sighs out.

"Do you want to Marinette?"

Marinette sulks, laying her chin on her desk as she stares at the words on the board. What does she want? To see Adrien of course. To always see Adrien everyday, every morning the two of them meeting up and walking to school together, then after school together as well on a date before he goes to work and she watches him from a distance taking secret pictures of her own. She wants to see him, wants to check if he's okay, wants to-

Alya's slick face gets a smirk on it; she can read her best friend's face so easily and all it says is Adrien. Adrien. Adrien. Adrien!

"Excuse me! I'm not feeling so well right now! Do you think I could visit the nurse real quick!" Alya asks raising her hand in the air.

"Oh, of course Alya. If you don't feel too nauseous later try to come back because we're having our test at the end of class."

"Okay," Alya says getting out of her seat.

She walks down the steps and takes a look at her best friend, seeing the voidness in her eyes as she lays back in her seat dead. Figures she'd forget to study, or worse, study and forget everything she's learned. Alya's sure that frown is going to turn completely upside down once she comes back with warm soup from the best restaurant she knows. Alya sighs and shakes her head, she should be a saint for all the things she does for best friend.

Saint Alya. If not a saint, Alya at least wants to be her maid of honor. She better be with all the trouble she's going through.

* * *

His house is always so intimidating; no matter how many times she visits the door to his home seems farther and father away each and every time. His house looks like a museum in her eyes with so many different pieces and parts to it. His home is certainly big enough to be considered a museum, it even had the metal gates around the mansion welcoming people in- or, well, more like keeping people out of here. She wonders if she'll get inside of his home this time or if she'll have to drop it off? Alya made sure to remind her to put a note inside hoping he'll get better signed in her handwriting with her name on it, so this time he knows for sure what she did for him. Marinette truly didn't mind though, as long as he gets better, as long as he's happy, she wouldn't even mind saying Chloe got it from him and that was saying a lot.

The distance between her and the doorbell get smaller and smaller with each passing step and soon she's standing right there, swallowing down the gulp in her throat. She can't believe Alya talked her into this; she doesn't even remember how? Alya came back to class, they took their test- ugh that test. Her stomach is doing flips at the thought of how badly she did on that test. Marinette sighs and leans down against the wall, sulking about how she's going to explain this one to her parents.

There's a dinging sound, the type of sound you hear when you get a good idea, but no good idea appeared in her mind. That dinging sound also sounded very loud and out in the open, plus it had a- Marinette could swear it had a dong to the end of it.

" _Yes?"_

"AH!" Marinette screams jumping back; she throws the soup into the air and juggles with it before she finally catching it in her hands, sighing out in relief.

She turns her head up to the camera with a glowing red light in the middle of it wiggling around in front of her, eying her up and down. She remembers this the last time she came here to give Adrien his birthday present; the woman on the intercom said to drop it in the mailbox and leave. Hopefully she won't be forced to do that again this time around; Marinette didn't think the soup would survive being dropped into a mailbox.

" _Yes?"_ A voice says again, a little more irritation in the woman's voice.

"Oh- um! I heard- I heard Adrien, sick, soup! Feel better, hoping... I'm a friend." Marinette sighs out at the end, the only complete sentence she's able to get out.

Adrien... sick? He said he wasn't going to school today, but Nathalie just thought he didn't feel like it or something. If he's sick he would have told her and she would have done everything in her power to get him whatever he wants. The best thing Adrien needs right now is plenty of rest and some warm soup made from a five star chef, not some adolescent girl bringing him God knows what type of place she got that plastic bag soup from-

Wait a second... isn't she? Nathalie fixes her glasses and leans into the computer screen, eying Adrien's friend up and down. She looks really famili- she's the girl she stole Adrien's birthday present from. Nathalie turns away from the screen and pinches the bridge between her nose, sighing deeply out of her mouth. She doesn't owe her anything, she doesn't owe her anything, Adrien was so happy with that scarf though-...

Marinette eyes the camera, wondering why it went completely still? All of a sudden it goes back into the wall and disappears, leaving her standing in front of his home is silence. She doesn't- she doesn't understand what's happening! Did she say something to offend the woman talking to her? Of course she did by babbling like an idiot. Marinette sighs and smacks the top of her head. Why does she even try?

There's a short buzz in the air and the sound of something scrapping against the ground. Marinette looks up and sees the gates opening, her eyes going wide as she watches them slide back. It could have been the gates to heaven opening right now, that's certainly what it felt like.

"Oh, that's why," she mumbles to no one but herself.

Marinette doesn't let this miracle go to waste and runs inside of the gate, turning her head back to see it close a few seconds later. She's made it in, she's made it in! Okay, now what? What's the reason she's here again? Marinette pauses and looks down, seeing the small plastic bag in her hand with a container of lukewarm soup inside.

That's right! To deliver this soup to Adrien and wish him a speedy recover.

"Hey Adrien, I saw that you missed school today, so I brought this for you. I hope you get better real soon," Marinette practices holding her hands out at the end.

Perfect. That was absolutely perfect, don't over think, don't change a single thing, that is where things always goes wrong for her. Don't over think, don't even think Marinette! Just walk in, meet Adrien, give him the soup, say your lines, and then leave all cool and breezy like.

"Cool and breezy, cool and breezy, cool and- eep!" She screeches when the front doors open all on their own.

Standing at the door awaiting her arrive is a woman in a business suit; she looks like a complete professional, especially with those slick black glasses on her face, but her redish black hair throws Marinette for a loop. Maybe she's a professional that likes to have fun on the weekends? Probably an assistant or housekeeper to Adrien or his father, nothing like his girlfriend though. She's much too old to be with Adrien; Marinette forces her jealous side to calm down. The woman standing in front of her continues to stare her down and raise an eyebrow.

"My name is Nathalie, and you are?"

"Marinette Dupain Cheng."

"Hmm," Nathalie hums looking her up and down, "just walk straight up the stairs, down the hall, last room on the left. I catch you snooping, stealing, or breaking anything you'll never be allowed on this property ever again. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Marinette squeaks out wishing she'd shrink into a little ball.

"You have ten minutes, I expect you can show yourself out. Have a good day Miss Cheng."

Marinette holds her breath until she can no longer hear the clicking of heels. She lets it all out of once and takes the sight in.

"Wow," is the only thing she can muster out.

She dreamed about what Adrien's house would look like, but nothing like this. Everything's so neat, so precise, Marinette wipes a finger against the staircase handles, so clean. It must take a lot to manage this home. She prefers her small home, her small four wall room with her garden balcony on top. It is the perfect size for her, nothing else needed except her family. She wonders is Adrien would be alright moving into a smaller home when they move in together?

Marinette pinches herself as a warning. She's getting ahead of herself right now. Living together?! They're not even married or dating or say more than eight words to each other! She's only here bringing him soup! Not asking for a marriage proposal!

"What am I thinking?!" Marinette yells at herself, her voice echoing down the many halls and rooms, "this is exactly what I warned myself about, I'm over thinking. Just go, give him soup, say your lines, then leave. Nathalie said ten minutes, I can do this perfectly in ten minutes. I have this."

She keep muttering the same words as she climbs the staircase, making a left and walking all the way down the hall until she reaches the last room on the right. This is his door... this is his door! In just a few seconds she is going to see his bedroom! Marinette gasps and checks her nose to see if anything is coming out then wipes her mouth off just in case she's drooling. She takes a few seconds afterward to mentally prepare for this.

She can do this. Don't think of this as Adrien, the love of her life and future husband and father of her kids, but just as... Adrien, a friend she goes to school with and sits behind. Wow... for the first time ever she feels calm thinking about him.

"I can't believe that worked," she says to herself knocking on the door.

The seconds ticks on by, she feels little drops of sweat run down her face. Three... two... one. Marinette screams inwardly and kneels down on the ground clutching at her head. WHAT IS SHE DOING?! WHAT IS SHE DOING RIGHT NOW? HOW CAN SHE THINK SHE CAN JUST GO INTO HIS HOME AND MEET HIM AT HIS DOOR WITHOUT A WARNING OR ANYTHING?! SHE'S CRAZY! CRAZ-... why isn't the door opening?

…

…

Does she dare to?

…

She's made it this far. Marinette reaches her hand out again and knocks on the door twice. This time she hears movements from the other side and sees a small shadow underneath it. The doors open and she sees Adrien standing there in front of her, but at the same time doesn't.

He looks awful.

His face is all pale, his eyes bloodshot red, so many bags underneath his eyes she almost wants to cry. He looks so sad, like he doesn't want her to be see him like this, like he doesn't want anyone to see him like this and she had to be the idiot to force her way in.

Adrien blinks softly seeing her, sniffling his nose. He waits for her to stay something, but as she stays still with wide eyes staring at him he starts to worry. Does he really look that bad? His rejection was already three days ago, he told himself he was only go to cry about her that day and it ended up being three. God, he's such a loser.

"Adrien."

Her voice breaks him out of his thoughts and he focuses back on his classmate. Her hands are shaking as she holds out a plastic bag for him and he careful takes it from her with both of his hands, afraid that she's going to drop it.

Silence.

"What is it?" He has to ask, because if she just leaves without telling him what she's given him he doesn't want to be taking something valuable from her.

"Soup."

Out all of the things she could of said she said soup; he doesn't see the humor in it, but for the first time in three days he laughs lightly and holds the bag up in front of him. So that's where the warmth was coming from.

"Nino!" She screams, making him jump up in surprise.

"He told everyone you were sick! So I brought you soup and... and... I'm sorry if I bothered you. I'm so sorry!" Marinette bows down with her eyes squeezed close.

Hopefully when she reopens them this will all be nothing but a dream, just a dream. Adrien blinks and looks down at her, seeing her ears turn red. He doesn't understand what she's apologizing over. All she did was bring him soup; it's his fault for lying and telling Nino he was sick instead of getting over a heartbreak. All she did was care for him enough to come visit and bring him something to make him feel better... she cares.

"Marinette, right? It's Marinette?"

Marinette flinches at her name and slowly looks up, her eyes wide and shining a sky blue as she leans back up.

"Yes," she breathes out, starstruck from his smile.

Even sick with puffy red eyes he still looks like a dream boat.

"Thank you for the soup Marinette, I'm sorry for the trouble of you bringing it-"

"It was no trouble at all Adrien! I was more than happy to do it, I really want to see you back at school!" Marinette explodes taking a step closer to him.

Adrien raises a eyebrow and that's when she catches herself. That's not the lines she told herself to say! Marinette tries to recover and play it cool, clearing her throat as she looks away.

"What I mean to say is everyone, everyone really wants to see you back at school, so I hope this soup helps."

A piece of her hair is out of place in her ponytail; has Marinette's hair always been this dark? It's almost like a jet black. Adrien reaches his hand out, wanting to fix it, but stops himself when her eyes meet his. His breath catches inside of his throat when he sees her blue eyes; how had he never noticed them before? So bright and clear... almost like... almost like the heavens-

Bad feelings bubble inside of his chest and he side-steps back, slamming his door in her face before he collapses against it clutching his chest. No, no, it can't still hurt after so long. He can't still have this heartbreak. How is he going to face her again if he feels like this? How is he going to be able to smile and flirt if just the sight of blue eyes and black hair kills him inside?

"Adrien? Adrien what's happening- whoa! What's that smell? It's almost smells as good as cheese!" Plagg cheers flying in circles.

"What?" Adrien asks.

"Ah, and it's all warm." Plagg sighs out peacefully as he lays on top of the lid.

Adrien looks down and sees a bag of soup... that's right- Marinette! He opens the door and looks out the hall, seeing her halfway down the hall already dragging her feet. What is he about to do right now?

"I'll see you at school tomorrow!" He calls out to her.

Marinette turns around, her heart lifting up and she sees him staring at her. She immediately straightens her posture and nods her head with the most ridiculous smile on her face.

"Okay!"

Adrien waves at her once before going back into his room, closing the door and lying his head against it. He opens his eyes and sees Plagg struggling to open the lid, gnawing at it with his teeth. It's so pitiful he can't take another second watching and slides to the floor, grabbing the soup.

"Who was that girl?"

"A friend from school, here you go." Adrien answers handing him back the steaming soup.

"She seems nice, this looks delicious!" Plagg chuckles before digging in.

Adrien blinks lightly and thinks back to Marinette. She didn't have to bring him soup, she didn't have to come all the way down here and usually no one cares that much when he's sick. His father certainly never visited him and Nathalie would usually send some servants to serve him soup in bed. For her to come all this way though? For the second time since his rejection a smile appears on his face.

Adrien picks up the small posted note on the side of the soup case with her hand writing on it, hoping he'll get well soon with a smiley face drawn right next to it.

"Yeah, she is nice."


	3. Chapter 3

**BlackLynx17: Hi! Thanks for reading, enjoy.**

* * *

 **Scratching The Surface.**

 **Chapter 3.**

* * *

Adrien looks over himself in the mirror, fixing the imperfections he spots in his hair. It's a wonder what a good night sleep can clear up. For the first time he didn't cry himself to sleep or wake up in a cold sweat from a nightmare about her. He had a dreamless sleep and woke up completely refreshed. His eyes were back to normal, the bags under his eyes completely cleared up. He looks like he usually does...

"Adrien? Are you sure you want to go to school today?" Plagg asks floating around him.

"Yeah, I can't stay crying in my room for the rest of my life. I have to get back on the horse, you know?" Adrien tells him picking up his bag.

"Why do you need to get back on the horse? When were you even on a horse?"

Adrien chuckles and shakes his head, "it's an expression Plagg, now come on. You're going to make me late."

"Adrien... I just don't want you pushing yourself. You can have my emergency cheese stash if that makes you feel any better."

Plagg has this kicked look expression on his face and it touches Adrien heart. He smiles and picks up his friend, rubbing the top of his head.

"Thanks Plagg, you're the best. I promise not to push myself today, now in the bag you go."

Adrien gently slides his best friend in his bag and closes it back up, heading out his room downstairs. Breakfast is different than usual, a warm bowl on soup in front of him on the table along with a cup of steaming hot tea- Adrien takes a sip, tea with honey and lemon.

"Will you be needing anything else for this morning Adrien?" Natalie asks.

"No Natalie, I'm good. Thank you."

Natalie nods her head and turns on her heels, heading outside of the door to continue her work. Adrien reaches for his side plate of cheese and slips it in his bag before he starts on breakfast, letting the warm soup slip down his throat. It's good, really good, but it doesn't taste like the one he had yesterday. That one was delicious, the perfect temperature to drink with all sorts of little wonders inside like carrots and celery and potatoes. This one... it didn't have the same feeling to it.

Which reminds Adrien, he really needs to thank Marinette today for bringing that soup. Has she always been that awkward around him? He can't really remember much about her other than her best friend being Alya and that her family owns a pastry shop. He remembers a couple of times visiting the shop with Nino; they made some really good pastries there. Maybe as a way of saying thanks for the soup he can take her out after school for lunch? Return the favor? Even though his father is hardly around now, Adrien does remember the time when he was and his father certainly raised him with manners and morals.

The whole car ride there Adrien tried to think of a good place to take her; his favorite restaurant was Louise's, but it's an expensive place and she seems like the type of girl who wouldn't allow him to flaunt his money like that. He always hears Nino talking about McDonald's, that cheap little fast food joint. Even though he's been warned how bad that place is for your body, if Marinette likes it one meal from there wouldn't be so bad for him.

"We're here, sir."

"Thanks, I'll see you later." Adrien tells his driver as he gets out of the car.

The first thing he sees is his friend Nino standing at the steps checking his phone. As soon as their eyes meet a grand smiles appears on his face and he starts walking over to meet him.

"Adrien! Yo Adrien! What are you doing here today man?!" Nino laughs pulling him into a hug.

Adrien laughs as he hugs him back, "I was feeling better today and I can't very well skip too much school."

"Welcome back bro, are you sure you should be pushing yourself today? I mean you look great, but I have no idea what you're feeling right now."

"Like a million bucks, trust me I'm fine." Adrien chuckles patting his back.

"Well that's good to here bro-"

"ADRIEN! OH MY DARLING ADRIEN!"

Marinette almost breaks her notebook in half, if that was even possible to do. She knows she bending it like crazy right now, her fingernails digging into the cover no doubt making scratch marks. Alya sighs and shakes her head, running her fingers through her best friend's hair to try and calm her down while Chloe blabs and cries like an idiot, screaming how worried she was for him so everyone around would think she's a 'kind person'. This act has her snorting.

"Come on Marinette, go over there and show her a thing or two." Alya says patting her back.

"Oh I wish I could... but I know the moment he sees me I'm going to end up babbling like an idiot and make a fool of myself, and I know Chloe isn't going to just let that go." Marinette sighs letting her book go.

It has a strange u-shape to it now. Alya wishes to tell her friend otherwise, but she knows her good enough to know that's exactly what's going to happen.

"Marinette, I'm so proud of you. Yesterday you did a very brave thing and you pushed yourself to the limit... so today, I think I'm going to let you off easy. You don't have to do anything drastic today Marinette, all you have to do is walk over with me to him and say good morning, welcome back Adrien. I'll even do it with you, but just let him see how happy you are he's back. Do you think you can do that much?"

Marinette looks up, "good morning, welcome back Adrien... it seems easy enough. Are you seriously going to let me off with just that Alya?"

"I swear, now come on. He's with Nino and Chloe, so it won't be that bad. At least you won't be talking to him by yourself."

Marinette smiles and nods her head up and down, hugging her bent shape book to her chest. She can do this, she can do this. Good morning, welcome back Adrien, no, that voice is too light. Good morning! Welcome back Adrien! No, she sounds too hyper and excited. Good morning Adrien, welcome back- got it! Perfect! Remember that voice Marinette, remember it well!

"Good morning Nino, Adrien, Chloe," Alya spits out, "it's nice to see you back Adrien, you look good."

"Morning Alya, morning Marinette." Nino greets back.

"Morning!" Marinette squeaks. Come on! What is she doing?! She's already freaking out and that morning wasn't even meant for Adrien.

"Alya," Chloe huffs.

"Good morning Alya, thanks; it's good to be back." Adrien smiles at her then looks over at Marinette.

When their eyes meet she looks like a deer caught in headlights and Adrien can't help but wonder why she looks so defenseless? So scared? Is it because of him? Nino? Chloe? He opens his mouth to greet her, but she flinches and closes her eyes tightly as she hugs her best friend's arm.

"Good morning Adrien! Welcome back! Let's go Alya," Marinette screams, and then whispers as she tugs Alya up the stares.

Nino starts laughing, "that girl is so funny sometimes."

"More like loud, I swear her voice made my ears bleed. As I was saying though Adrien before I was rudely interrupted by those two, since you're feeling better today how about the two of us-"

"Hold that thought Chloe, Marinette! Marinette!" Adrien calls out chasing after that.

"WHAT?!" Chloe screams, fire burning in her eyes.

Nino chuckles and slips away, following his best friend. Alya stops right where she's standing when she hears a voice calling for Marinette, despite the girl hearing nothing and wanting nothing more to do than go to class and put her head down until it's time to learn.

"Come on Alya, I can't believe I made a fool out of myself by just saying five little words," Marinette groans tugging at her arm.

"Hold on Marinette, someone's calling for you." Alya says looking back.

"Huh? Who?" Marinette asks looking back also.

The two of them spot Adrien jogging up the steps, his voice calling out one of their names. Marinette blinks and is froze in her place, pinching her arms to make sure that her dream boat is really chasing after and calling her right now. She's pinching even harder now that he's standing in front of her, giving her one of his heart breaking smiles.

"Wow, you sure do walk fast Marinette; were you on a mission or what?" Adrien jokes.

Marinette blinks, "you're talking to me."

"What?" He asks, his eyebrows scrunching together.

Alya elbows her in the ribs, "I see that the two of you have something to talk about, so I'll be over there. See you guys." She says excusing herself.

"Alya!" Marinette calls.

Their eyes meet.

Go and talk to him!

Don't abandon me like this! What if I mess up?!

You won't! He wants to talk to you specifically, he was calling your name specifically! Just don't screw up and be yourself!

Myself is weird!

GO MARINETTE!

Traitor.

Marinette looks back at Adrien and giggles awkwardly, placing one foot behind her other as she scratches her cheek and stares down at his shoes.

"Hi." She mumbles.

"Hi again, listen Marinette. I wanted to thank you again for stopping by the other day and bringing me some soup. It was delicious."

"Oh!" She gasps looking up at him, "it's nothing! I mean- it was nothing- I mean! It wasn't nothing, it was a lot, but you're nothing- I mean! You're not nothing! You're something special! I mean! Ugh," she groans covering her face with her hands.

"Are you meaning to say you're welcoming?" Adrien tries and guess.

"Yes, yes, you're welcome Adrien... it wasn't a lot of trouble, honestly. I just... wanted to make you feel better," she says, still covering her face from him.

It's easier this way to talk to him, if she's not exactly looking at him. Adrien blinks and doesn't know what to think about her. One thing he knows for sure is that he makes her nervous. For what reason... he doesn't know which one to pick. Maybe because he's a famous model? Some people get nervous around him because of that, or maybe because of Chloe? He knows she can be a little mean and chase girls away from him, if that's the case he's going to need to have a talk with her about that. He notices how red her ears seem, just like yesterday when she was talking to him. Do her ears always turn red when she's embarrassed? Adrien smiles a little bit to himself; that's a cute trait to have.

"Well it really helped. So I was thinking, in return for thanking you, if you free that is after school today, do you maybe want to-"

What is he doing right now? Why is he sounding so unsure of himself and pausing? Who is he right now?! Because Chat Noir would not be acting this way! Chat Noir would be leaning against something and smiling seductively, spinning his tail around as he looks at Marinette and says, you, me, dinner? Why isn't he acting like that right now? Duh, because he isn't in his Chat Noir costume, but still! That mask means nothing! He's still that type of person inside, he just needs to pull it out and stop acting like this.

Adrien clears his voice and stars over, "I want to take you out to eat after school, as thanks for helping yesterday."

It took every inch of his moral fiber to not make it sound like a question and more like a suggestion, more like a demand saying even though I am asking you this, you can't say no. Chat Noir way, Chat Noir way... even though Chat Noir isn't really lucky around the ladies- he shouldn't think of this right now.

Marinette completely stills, her hands dropping all at once to see if he was joking. That expression on his face though, that smile... he's being serious with her right. Serious... Adrien's asking her out on a date. ADRIEN IS ASKING HER OUT ON A DATE! DON'T BLOW THIS MARINETTE! DO NOT BLOW THIS!

"Uh-" she hesitates.

SHE'S BLOWING THIS!

"She'll love to Adrien! That's such a kind offer, of course she'll accept. Her last class is at three o'clock in the afternoon, so she'll be waiting in front of the school for you alright?" Alya says, swooping in to save the day when she saw her friend about to choke.

Her arm is wrapped around Marinette's shoulder, her hand covering her mouth to prevent her from saying something she'll regret. Adrien blinks, his eyes widening a little bit as he stares at Alya and then at Marinette.

"Are you sure? Because if you have other plans, then we can do it another day-"

"Nope! She's completely free! Aren't you Marinette?" Alya asks looking at her, her voice growing dark as she glares at the girl. Don't screw this up, her eyes said.

Marinette feels a shiver course through her and looks back at Adrien, nodding her head up and down. He sighs out a bit in relief, the first time he's ever asked someone out without being rejected- why does his mind keep going to that?! He needs to forget and get over it, not think about it every minute.

"Great, you said three o'clock, right? I should be done before then, I'll be waiting just as you ask. See you two in class," Adrien smiles and waves before turning around and heading back towards Nino.

Alya keeps her hand over her best's friends mouth, walking them over to the girl's bathroom and checking the stalls before she lets go. Marinette lets out a high girlish squeal as she jumps up and down over and over again, hugging herself.

"I'M GOING ON A DATE WITH ADRIEN! I'M GOING ON A DATE WITH ADRIEN! I'M GOING OUT ON A DATE WITH HIM! AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

She jumps up in the air and hugs Alya close, "THANK YOU ALYA! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I SURELY WOULD HAVE SCREWED THAT UP IF YOU HADN'T HAVE COME WHEN YOU DID!"

Alya giggles and hugs her friend back, "of course, I knew I couldn't leave you behind like that. What are best friends for? See! Now I told you that soup trick would work. Now you get to go out on a date with him.

Marinette squeals again.

"And don't worry, you're going to do great. I believe in you; you have this."

She sighs out dreamily, "a date with Adrien, it all almost seems like a dream. A happy dream, a fun dream... oh no! Alya! What if all of this is actually a dream!" She panics.

"Marinette, calm down, it's not a dre- actually, yes, yes that should work! Yes Marinette, pretend this is all a dream." Alya says grabbing her shoulders.

"Huh?" Marinette asks her.

"You're not nervous in dreams, right? In dreams you have more confidence in yourself and I've heard you say you've dreamed about marrying Adrien about a million times already and it was perfect. If you think the date is a dream Marinette then I'm sure you won't freak out, I'm sure you'll act like your normal self since this is all a dream."

"Oh... I get it. Just to make this clear though, this is all not a dream, right?" Marinette asks.

"No, it's not."

"But I'm suppose to act like it's one so I don't freak out, correct?"

"That is completely correct."

"Okay, I understand it now... do I have a little bit more time to freak out and cheer about this?"

Alya checks the bathroom clock, "you have three more minutes."

"Cool... I'M GOING OUT ON A DATE WITH ADRIEN! THANK YOU GOD!"


	4. Chapter 4

**BlackLynx17: I'm sick right now and it sucks, so badly. I can't myself able to do anything but lay down in bed and be lazy. I don't even know how I'm updating this right now, but I saw the latest episode of Lady Bug and got the inspiration to do it. Hope you enjoy; wink.**

* * *

 **Scratching The Surface.**

 **Chapter 4.**

* * *

"Marinette get a hold of yourself! Adrien's waiting for you right now! What are you thinking?" Tiki asks.

"I don't know, I'm feeling sick. I don't think I can go." Marinette mumbles holding onto her stomach.

"You've done harder things than this, saving the town from Hawk Moth, helping your parents out at the bakery, facing Chloe every day, taking finals and tests! You can do this Marinette, just remember what Alya said to think of this as."

Marinette takes a small breath and sighs out, "think of this like a dream."

"Come on, he's waiting. Let's go before he thinks you've stood him up."

"Oh no! How long have I been in here?!" She screams running out of the bathroom.

Tiki slips back into her bag as she runs, wishing her friend good luck on this date. Marinette runs down the stairs and nearly trips, but catches herself right at the last step. She hears a snort and turns her head, seeing Adrien, her Adrien, with his head down and a hand covering his mouth.

"Nice entrance," he chuckles.

Marinette turns red from head to toe and straightens herself out. This is a dream, this is a dream, she mumbles to herself.

"Hi Adrien! I hope I didn't keep you waiting long," she asks him.

"Not at all, I was getting a bit worried though. How was class?"

A dream, this is all simply a dream. Marinette takes a deep breath and sighs out, standing up straight. Adrien blinks at her change of attitude around her. For the first time in... ever he thinks she seems calm around him. He wonders how long that is going to last.

"It was peaceful. We had a free period so I just sketched a couple of outfits for my journal."

"That's cool; I hope all that drawing made you hungry."

"Yeah, I'm famished. You really don't have to do this for me though."

WHAT IS SHE SAYING RIGHT NOW?! IS SHE TRYING TO DITCH HER FIRST OFFICIAL DATE WITH ADRIEN?! Marinette turns red and waves her hands in front of her.

"What I mean to say is that if you're forcing yourself, you shouldn't be! Like I said earlier, I wasn't expecting anything back for you! I'm not saying you owe me one! I just- I just- I know how busy you are-"

"Marinette, it's alright. You're probably worrying about my work or after school classes, but please you don't have to. I am completely free today and I became free because I wanted to take you out."

Yeah, this has to be a dream, because Adrien has never been this straight forward with her like this... ever.

"Okay," she whispers lightly completely calmly.

Adrien smiles and nods his head, "good. So I have the car waiting for us ready to take you wherever you want to eat if you have a preference, if you don't though I can choose something."

Marinette thinks about it for a minute. Every date she's ever had with Adrien in her dreams has been at the Eiffel Tower, usually involving a ring and fireworks with classical music playing in the background. She's even done research around that area at restaurants looking for the perfect one she'd want to be proposed to. Since this is a dream it should be alright to name one of those, that sane voice inside of her though reminds her softly that this might actually be a reality and keeps her from saying it out loud and pushes another idea in her mind instead.

"Yeah, I have some place in mind."

"Great, I was worrying a bit that I'd take you to someplace you wouldn't like."

"I'd like any place you'd take me to Adrien," she responds back like second nature.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" She squeaks covering her mouth.

Adrien chuckles, "you're funny Marinette. Are you ready to go?"

She doesn't trust herself to not say something stupid, so instead she nods her head and follows after him to the long white limo waiting in front of their school. Out the corner she notices Alya giving her a thumbs up and she grins weakly back before tripping at the last step.

"Wha-"

"Whoa, watch it there." Adrien says catching her arm.

Marinette looks up and sees his green eyes staring wide at her, so bright and clear. She sees an image of someone else, someone wearing all black with green eyes just like those staring at her filled with so much- no, she doesn't have time to think about it.

"I guess I can also add clumsy to funny as well, you okay?" Adrien asks picking her up.

"Yeah, thanks Adrien."

"Not a problem, after you first," he acts like a gentlemen holding the door open.

Marinette blushes brightly and slides in; the minute the door closes for those few seconds it takes Adrien to walk around the car she squeals to herself and fist pumps the air. Adrien touched her! Not only touched, but caught her and picked her back up! He even held the door open for her! The second she hears him opening the door she is calm again, blush still on face as she fastens her seat belt.

"You can give Hank up there our directions." Adrien says.

"Hank?" Marinette repeats looking forward.

She sees the window that is normally closed in limos between the driver and passenger all the way down, this driver called Hank holding a hand over his mouth; Marinette notices his shoulders moving like crazy and completely turns red from head to toe, nearly screaming out in embarrassment and frustration from acting like that in front of someone.

If this were a dream it is turning out to be a nightmare right now.

* * *

"Wow, I've never heard of this place." Adrien says tilting his head at the sign.

Marinette plays with her fingers, "I'm sorry, if you want to go someplace else-"

"No, no! This is my treat to you and honestly I'm curious about this place. I've never been before. Hank, you can come back in an hour to pick us up. Thanks for the lift," Adrien says to the window.

Their chance at changing their destination leaves along with the limo leaving the young couple standing in the middle of the sidewalk, a great view of the Effie Tower behind them. Marinette gulps and takes the first steps in, heading over to the door. Adrien quickly follows after her and holds the door open, nodding his head at her thanks. His eyes wander around taking in the place as Marinette orders them a table, wanting to do a little happy dance to herself when their waiter seats them right at the front window in perfect view of the tower.

"This place is really nice and cozy; what is it known for?" Adrien asks looking over at Marinette.

She chokes on her water a little and wipes her mouth off with a napkin, trying to act like she hadn't just done that, "the bread and cheese. There food is good here, but this place is more known for their bakery goods; their cheesy buns is the one thing that always has me coming back."

"Cheesy buns? Sounds... cheesy," Adrien chuckles at his own joke, "doesn't your family own a bakery?"

"Yeah, that's right!" Marinette cheers for him; he knows she has a bakery, he knows a little about her. It's both exciting and... horrible. "Please don't tell my parents I go here! I mean, they don't mind me going to other bakeries, but if they heard me saying that I prefer these cheese buns to theirs it'll break my father's heart."

"Don't worry Marinette, your secret is safe with me." He winks.

Her heart flutters, "thanks Adrien."

He's completely at a lost when their waiter comes back with the menu, this place completely out of his usual places. He leaves all the decision making to Marinette, not being able to decide on anything for himself, repeating her order of cheesy buns and grape soda.

"You know you can order a lot more than that; I wasn't kidding about treating you." Adrien tells her.

"If I order anything else it'll all go to waste. Trust me on this Adrien, after eating two you'll be so stuffed you'll hardly be able to move."

"Really? Nino took me to this one pizza joint once and we ordered a- a triple decker meaty stuffed with extra cheese? I don't know what it was, but after a single slice I was ready to pass out honestly. I couldn't believe how he ate three pieces and still had room for more."

He's laughing right across from her, smiling and talking, telling her stories, and all she can do is stare at his beautiful face and think... this is all a dream. This has to be all a dream because Adrien never did these things, he never did any of these things with her. It wasn't because he didn't like her though, no Marinette knew they were passing by friends, but more because... she never... she never took the step forward to make them more than that. She never made that first move and here he is, making that first move for her. He's talking to her, expecting her to talk back, expecting them to have a friendly date together. She can't blow this, she shouldn't blow this. Talk to him Marinette, talk to him.

"Really? That sounds delicious! Maybe we should all go together one day, you, me, Alya, and Nino." Marinette suggests.

"Yeah, that sounds like a fun day. On my next day off I'll see what everyone else is doing."

Go Marinette, go Marinette! GO MARINETTE!

"Um, would you like my number? So when you find out your day off I can make sure I have nothing going on that day. I can also give you Alya's number as well! Not just mine!"

"Sure, I don't think I have your number." Adrien says digging in his bag.

He spies Plagg lying in there staring up at him.

"Adrien, I'm hungry," he mumbles.

"What was that Adrien?" Marinette asks looking at him.

"Nothing! I'm hungry," he laughs covering up Plagg mouth.

He pulls out his phone and closes his bag again, pulling up a new contact list.

"What is it?"

It worked! It worked! Marinette tries not to stutter as she repeats her number, smiling warmly at the text he sends her even though she already, secretly, has his number. Still, owning it with his permission actually gives her a reason to text him out of the blue now without him wondering how she has his number.

"Thanks, I got it." Marinette smiles.

"Good, Marinette. I never new how much of a mouthful your name was until I spelled it, hahaha, hopefully correctly."

"Mouthful?" Marinette repeats, her heart falling.

"No- I mean, a mouthful, but it's very pretty. Marinette, it's a beautiful name!"

Marinette blushes brightly from head to toe while Adrien clears his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. There's an awkward silence between the two of them which their waiter saves by bringing over their food; a steamy plate of cheesy buns and two cups filled with soda.

"Does grape soda actually taste like grapes?" Adrien asks lifting up the glass.

"You've never drank it before?" She asks taking a sip of her own.

"Soda isn't really allowed in a model's diet, but every now and then I'll have a can. Can't say I've ever tasted grape though."

"It's my favorite, so I hope you'll like it." Marinette smiles at him.

Her blue eyes are hypnotic, but for the wrong reasons. They remind him of her, but honestly there's a different. Marinette's eyes are more bright and clear, a lighter blue like the sky; Lady Bug's are more dark and mysterious, a night sky. Both eyes are beautiful, he should stop trying to compare the two of them. He's been lucky that nothing has ever happened where the two of them would have to fight off akumas, but his luck is sure to wear out soon. Hopefully this peace can continue on though. Adrien needs to focus more on his real life than his secret one, more on his real friends and family.

"Hmm, wow, this is good." Adrien hums after taking a sip.

"Hehehe, I'm glad you like it. Now be prepared to have your taste buds blown away! It's a bit hot, so be careful on the first bite." Marinette says pushing the plate over to him.

Adrien wiggles his fingers and picks one of them up, feeling Plagg move around in his bag. He must be smelling the cheese right now. He'll sneak him one when she isn't looking, but for now he takes a bite and moans out pulling it away, a cheesy strand following out. Marinette resists the urge so hard not to take his picture right now, her phone in hand ready to do so. Instead she tries to always remember this picture in her mind, of Adrien's cute face.

"Oh my God, I can't believe how good this is." He moans.

"Yes! Two for two, I'm happy you like it. I was worried that you wouldn't." Marinette giggles.

"Yeah, I can't believe this place. Best cheese bun I've ever tasted." Adrien agrees slipping the bun underneath the table.

He stuffs it in his bag while Marinette reaches for one herself, watching her face light up into a warm smile as she takes that first bite. It's... that smile on her face is surprising. She licks her lips and wipes her mouth off with a napkin, giggling as she stares back at him.

"Wow, you ate that quickly. Did you not eat anything at all today?"

"Huh? Oh- yeah, no I didn't. It's also because these things are so good I can't help but eat it that fast."

"Well there's plenty of them, go ahead and have your fill."

"I should be saying that to you Marinette; I'm suppose to be treating you after all."

"Oh no! You don't have to! I mean, I brought money-"

"Hahaha, the whole point of me inviting you out Marinette is so that I could re-PAY you back for yesterday. I can't have you buy."

"I wasn't thinking about paying the full meal, just split the check in half."

"Out of the question. Just let me do this Marinette, and if you're so against it, next time we go out together we'll split the check. Alright?"

"There's going to be a second date?"

This whole day she's been mumbling, but for the first time Adrien hears her clearly. He spat out his drink back into his cup and starts coughing like crazy, hitting his chest. Marinette's eyes widen realizing her mistake and shakes her head.

"I didn't mean- I didn't- I wasn't- I- I- I-" she didn't know what to say.

A date. She said a date. A date right now. She thinks this is a date, isn't this a date? He did ask her out, he is paying for her, they are here alone together right in front of the most romantic view in the city. All the signs point for this being a date, Adrien isn't that naive, but he just... this whole time thought this was just a friendly outing. It is a friendly outing, he's just repaying her. Calling this a date would mean he's over Lady Bug and... and... isn't that what he wants to do? Wants to be? Over her? Over Lady Bug? He hardly knows anything about Marinette though and he's never been interested in before... because he was interested in Lady Bug. Now that that dreams been shot down and burned to the ground does that give him permission to recover?

She is beautiful and sweet, a little awkward and weird, but at least that means she's different from the rest. He's thinking about this too fast, he just got rejected, but he doesn't have to completely push it out of his mind.

"Oh," Marinette groans dropping her head on the table.

"Hey, Marinette?"

She blinks and lifts her head back up.

"Um... I'll think about it." He tells her, because honestly he is going to be thinking about it.

"I rather you forget it," she says before she drowns in embarrassment.

Adrien chuckles, "alright, I'll forget it. Have another cheesy bun."

He's so nice, so very, very nice. I love you Adrien, she wishes she can say to him. I love you, I love you, I love you. She repeats it over in her mind again and again hoping he can hear her. Adrien just smiles though and starts talking about something else, never mentioning her love confession.


	5. Chapter 5

**BlackLynx17: I had a job interview today; it went well and they asked me to come back for a second interview which makes me even MORE nervous because that's like two interviews for ONE JOB! I suck at interviews! This is killing me.**

* * *

 **Scratching The Surface.**

 **Chapter 5.**

* * *

He wants to ignore the people screaming.

He wants to ignore the city getting destroyed.

He wants to ignore all of it, believing that she'll be able to handle it all on her own, but what type of man would he be if he did that? What if she needed him? She may have broken his heart, but not the love he holds for her. He would never be able to forgive himself if she got hurt because of him.

So he changes for her and goes out to fight by her side-... well, not by her side. When they first see each other she completely freezes and he just stares. That only lasts for a moment before they're attacked by whatever enemy Hawk Moth sends at them. They both try to ignore it, but they can't with the distance that is between them. Somehow they're able to save the day at the end, but not by each others side like usual. There's a distance between them the entire time, even know at the moment they're suppose to fist bump at the job well down.

"Chat Noir-"

"I've got to go, good luck today Lady Bug." Chat Noir tries to smile at her.

It comes off sad though and before she can say a thing he leaps away, jumping from roof top to roof top away from her. Lady Bug doesn't want that though. Today was horrible, so awkward she couldn't believe it, and she's hurting him. She's hurting him and that's the last thing she wants to do, so she tries following after her only to be stopped by Tiki.

"Tiki, what are you doing?"

"Saving you from hurting him more; don't go after him Lady Bug." She says.

"But Tiki- I need to apologize, I need to try and make this better."

"It is going to be better Lady Bug, I swear to you it is, but the only reason he's acting this way is because you rejected him."

"I didn't mean to hurt him!"

"But you don't love him Lady Bug! And that's alright, there's nothing wrong with that. Chat Noir just needs time to get better though. He's only acting distant because he still loves you and doesn't know what to do. Let him heal though Lady Bug and he'll be back to normal. Think about it, if you told Adrien your feelings and he rejected you wouldn't it hurt seeing him again?"

Lady Bug frowns, balling her hand into a fist against her chest. It would hurt, seeing the man she loves who doesn't love her back. It would hurt even more pretending to be happy and smile all the while her heart is breaking so he doesn't feel bad...

Oh, she gets it now. No wonder that smile looked so sad; he was trying his best for her, but it hurt him. If she goes to him now he'll have to smile and pretend more often, hurt himself even more than she's already hurt him in the process and-...

"You're right Tiki, you're right." Lady Bug sighs out.

"Of course I'm right. You don't have to worry though Lady Bug, a man like Chat Noir... he's going to bounce back real soon, until then you're just going to have to learn how to get use to this."

Lady Bug doesn't want to get use to think though, what she wants is her partner back. The familiar beeping sound informs her her miraculous is about to be out of juice, fate telling her final doubts to let Chat Noir go. She quickly jumps back to her apartment building and returns to normal, catching Tiki in her hands as she falls.

"Good work today Tiki," Marinette giggles rubbing her cheek.

"Thanks Marinette, I'll be good to go after a quick rest." Tiki mumbles curling up in her hand.

Marinette walks back down to her room, tucking Tiki into her bed and covering her up with a blanket before strolling to her computer. When she clicks the space bar pictures of Adrien appears and a blush appears on her cheeks. Their date had been so nice, nothing at all like she imagined because she made a fool of herself more than once, but it felt more... real that way. She wasn't perfect, she was far from perfect, especially in front of him, and her trying to act that way... if Adrien would have fallen in love with that perfect her she wouldn't be able to pull that act twenty-four seven around him. No, she wants Adrien to fall for the real her, the sweet her with a clumsy awkward side.

Her phone ringing breaks her from her thoughts and she scrambles to answer it, her heart racing thinking it could be him. A picture of Alya appears instead though, making her both calm down and feel disappointed.

"Hello?"

" _How did the date go future Ms. Adrien?"_

Marinette groans lightly with a smile on her face; that doesn't have a bad ring to it at all. "I embarrassed myself, but only a fair amount. Honestly it didn't go so bad... it was nice."

" _Don't stop there at nice! I want all the details! What happened?! What you talk about?! What did you guys do?! Where did you go?! What happened at the end?! Did he give you a smooch at the end?!"_

"Alya! No he didn't! He respectfully drove me back home before going off to work!"

" _Aw, I bet you wish he did kiss you huh?"_

Marinette faces turns red, "Alya!"

Her friend starts laughing in her ear making her feel even more embarrassed. Yes she had wished that, but in all reality there was no way he was going to do that to her on their first date. Third date, she's hoping, but first? Marinette has seen the movies, she knows the rules... oh if Adrien had kissed on though.

" _Marinette? Marinette? Earth to Marinette."_

"Huh?" Marinette answers, wiping her mouth off.

" _Glad you're back, so I'm waiting? Or is the dish so good I have to be there in person to hear. I'm busy right now, but I can totally come over in an hour and we can talk about it."_

"Well," Marinette looks at her bed at Tiki, "today is not actually a good time. I'm free to talk thou- hold on, I'm getting another call."

Her phone starts vibrating in her hand and she pulls it away from her ear, her eyes widening at the name that pops up.

"Alya!"

" _What? What's happening?!"_

"Adrien is calling me right now! What do I do?!"

" _What? He's actually calling you?! Answer it obviously!"_

"But I can't!"

" _Don't worry about me, I'm hanging up. Good luck!"_

"No Alya! Alya! No!" Marinette screams.

The call drops though and Adrien's face is just popping up. Marinette takes a huge inhale of breath and sighs out all her clumsiness and butterflies in her stomach. She's already been on a date with this man, there's nothing one phone call could do.

"Hello?" Marinette asks answering it.

" _Marinette? Hey, it's Adrien. I hope I didn't catch you at a busy time."_

"No, not at all! I was just on my computer... messing around." Marinette says pushing buttons on her computer, trying to turn it back off.

His face is staring at her right now making her even more nervous than she already is; she needs to not see his face and only hear his voice.

" _That's cool. So hey, listen, remember that pizza place I was telling you about? The one with the delicious slices with all that cheese and meat?"_

"Oh yeah, the one you could only have one slice before you felt like passing out?"

He laughs in her ear making her smile. She's doing good, she's doing good so far.

" _Yeah that's the one. Were you actually interested in going there? I mean, do you actually like pizza and that scene or were you only saying that to be nice?"_

"Oh no, no, no Adrien! I do, I do love pizza! It's one of my favorite foods! Why? Did you want to go? I'm free tomorrow after school and I think Alya's free tomorrow too, I can call her to make sure. What about Nino? Or were you thinking about over the weekend?"

" _Ah- no Marinette, actually I was just... talking... about us."_

Marinette blinks, "us?"

" _Yeah."_

"Us as in just me and you?"

" _Uh, right."_

"I'm not understanding."

" _Geeze, um, what I'm trying to say, what I am saying is that- well, I'm asking you out on a date, a real date, an actually date... with me... if you're interested."_

She drops her phone, she drops her phone, WHY DID SHE JUST DROP HER PHONE?! Marinette dives for the ground and picks up her phone again.

" _Marinette? What was that sound?"_

"Yes, yes Adrien."

" _Yes? Really? Cool! That's- that's cool. So, um, you said you're free tomorrow."_

"Yes."

" _So does after class sound good?"_

"Yes."

" _Great! I mean, that's cool. It's a date, between the two of us, just us two, uh- um, well that's it. I'll see you tomorrow than Marinette. Can't wait."_

"Yes," Marinette smiles widely, grinning from ear to ear.

"Yes," Adrien chuckles over the phone, "I'll let you continue your messing computer thing then. Bye Marinette."

" _Yes- I mean, bye Adrien."_

He hangs up the phone and covers his face, screaming loudly in them. He did it, he did it! For a second he was afraid she wasn't going to agree, for a second he was afraid he was... he was going to be rejected again... again... but that didn't happen. That didn't and not getting shot down by asking a girl out... it felt pretty good.

"Adrien? Are you okay? What's wrong?" Plagg asks flying above him.

"Nothing Plagg, she said yes. We're all good to go tomorrow." Adrien looks up at him, grinning.

"Really? Because you just yelled out, so I thought you got rejected again- ow-ow!" Plagg groans when Adrien pinches his cheek.

"No, that didn't happen again. Marinette is, Marinette is nice, and I think she might be interested in me... maybe... hopefully."

"I'm really happy for you Adrien; she's a nice girl, I'm sure things will turn out better this time around."

This time around. When he saw her again, when he saw Lady Bug... everything came back to him. All those feelings he spent days crying over. He wanted to go to her, hold her, beg her for another chance, kiss her lips just once and ask her if she truly felt nothing. Obviously he couldn't though, and when he was on the brink of tears about to run away and abandon her in the heat of battle so she won't see his crumbled state... he remembered Marinette. He remembered the cheese buns and grape soda the two of them shared together and it helped him get through the battle until the final second where the two of their eyes met.

She helped him. She made him feel better, she made him forget... Marinette was helping him getting over Lady Bug. It wasn't love, it wasn't a crush or an infatuation, but it could be. He's never seen anyone but Lady Bug for so long, what was wrong with looking for somebody to love? He isn't tied down to anyone, that's painfully obvious, and if things don't work out Marinette is still a good friend.

She saved him today though... that stuck with him. As soon as he ran when the battle was over he had to ask, had to see if the tears wouldn't fall down if he heard her voice... and it worked. Lady Bug acted exactly the same as always. She wasn't sad for him, wasn't overly happy, his confession had no effect on her and didn't bother her in the slightest; she seemed as if she hadn't thought or worried about it at all. Here Marinette was laughing, giggling, stuttering, even over the phone he was having some type of affect on her. Why chase after someone who might never love him? What's the point in that?

There is no point.

Lady Bug was his past, no, not his past, she's still apart of his life. He wants to slowly make her a smaller part and hopefully... hopefully make Marinette and his other friends a bigger one as they should be. Lady Bug is obviously living her real life first, her secret life nothing but a hobby. Her priority is more to herself than her secret identity. He was once like that before he fell in love with her, but now he needs to remember being there for his friends. He needs to remember what it feels like having a normal life first. He's going to remember that.

Marinette is going to be his first step.


	6. Chapter 6

**BlackLynx17: Hey everyone! I got the job! Starting next week I'll be working at Barnes and Nobles, which I'm super excited for because that means DISCOUNTS ON BOOKS! HOORAY! Because of this I may be taking a break from fanfictions depending on how many days a week I work, so this story might not be updated as frequently. Hopefully that won't happen, but we never know. Thanks for reading everybody, hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 **Scratching The Surface.**

 **Chapter 6.**

* * *

She sees him getting out of the car, waving his driver good-bye. Her best friend brushes their shoulders together and wiggles her eyebrows making Marinette blush even more. Nino greets him first, like he always does.

"You have to say good morning to him." Alya says.

"I know that, I know that... let me just work up the courage." Marinette whimpers to herself.

"What courage? Saying yes to his date takes courage, going in his car on that date takes courage, coming to school wearing that takes courage, saying good morning is nothing." Alya says rubbing her head.

"What? What are you talking about? Is my outfit that bad?" Marinette squeals looking down at herself.

"It's not bad, it's just... what you wear all the time. You think on your second date you'd want to dress up or something." Alya says.

"I didn't want to seem like I was trying too hard! Oh my God, why didn't I dress up?" Marinette whimpers touching her cheeks.

"It's fine, it's fine, you can do it next time on the third date."

"What if there isn't a third date because of my outfit?!" She squeals.

"You ready to head for class Adrien?" Nino asks.

"Yeah, let me just go say hi to Marinette." Adrien says patting his shoulder.

He sees her standing next to the stairs, her best friend patting her back. Oh no, does that mean she's feeling bad?

"Yo Adrien, did you just say-"

"I'll be back," Adrien mumbles walking straight over.

"Dude, you're serious. Just when did you become interested in Marinette?" Nino chuckles following after him.

"Do you think I have time to head back home? I can be late to our first class, make a grand entrance or something?" Marinette asks.

Alya giggles and shakes her head, "you're so silly Marinette."

"Alya! Marinette! What's up girls?!" Nino cheers out loud, waving his arms in the air.

Alya looks up and smiles, "yo, Nino, Adrien, morning you two."

"Morning Nino," Marinette says looking back up.

She sees him grinning before she looks at Adrien and slowly, very slowly, she thinks she dies inside and goes to heaven as Adrien... she sees his arms reaching out, she feels it wrap around her shoulder, she feels him hug her, and then she thinks she passes out.

"Morning Marinette," he whispers softly in her ear.

Nino mouths drop and Alya pulls out her phone taking pictures, because she knows Marinette is going to want their first hug together documented. She thinks she passes out, but she doesn't and has enough sense to speak back.

"Morning Adrien."

He pulls back and sees her blushing face, smiling a little bit.

"Morning Alya; how are the two of you?"

"I think the both of us got something pleasant we weren't expecting, so great." Alya grins.

Marinette elbows her in the stomach, "good. We're good."

"OH ADRIEN!"

"And there goes our good morning," Alya mumbles as Chloe comes running over.

She wraps her arms around Adrien's neck and presses her lips again his cheek, "good morning Adrien."

"Oh, hi Chloe. Could you um- yeah," Adrien says taking her hands off of him.

"Aw Adrien, there's no need to be shy. I set my whole day completely free so what do you say about me and you going on a romantic date today? Huh? Just the two of us?"

Marinette starts gritting her teeth together, Alya rubbing her shoulder, and Nino taking out his phone wondering if there was going to be a cat fight and wanting to take a video. Adrien sighs a little bit and takes a step back, running his neck.

"Actually, I have plans today with Marinette, so I can't."

"What?" Chloe asks.

Marinette feels like doing a happy dance, jumping up and down and rubbing it completely in her face, but instead she settles for grinning widely at Chloe's defeated face. Before anything else happens after that the warning bell rings and everyone listens in for it.

"There's the bell, come and walk with us to class Adrien, Nino, since we're all heading the same way." Alya says tugging Marinette forward.

She pushes her into Adrien and grabs Nino's arm, dragging him up the steps with a wink while Adrien and Marinette follows after them shyly. Chloe is still in total shock, Sabrina trying to wake her up from it by fanning her face.

"Adrien, you may not know what I'm talking about, but that was awesome." Alya grins behind her.

"Uh, thanks I guess then Alya?"

"That was something, huh?" Nino agrees.

"What are you guys talking about?" Adrien asks.

Marinette is still in la-la land, taking peeks at Adrien's face. He's so awesome, he's so cool, he's so handsome, he's so amazing, and she can't believe that she's able to go on another date with him.

"Marinette, do you have any idea what they're talking about?" Adrien asks looking at her.

"Whose talking about?"

Adrien sighs and shakes his head, "never mind. We're still on for afterschool, right?"

"Yes, yes, we're still on."

"Good, can't wait."

Marinette smiles kindly, "neither can I."

* * *

"Favorite food?"

"Does cheesebuns count as food?"

"Hehehe, sure. Favorite movie?"

"Moulin Rouge!"

"Hmm, never heard of it. Favorite color?"

Marinette blushes a little, "green."

"What are you in college to be?"

"A fashion designer."

"Hey, if you get famous enough maybe even I can wear your clothes in the future. That bowler hat you made for me was beautiful."

"Thanks, sorry it made you sneeze so much though. I didn't know you were allergic to feathers."

"It's fine, it was only for one shooting. Are you allergic to anything?"

"Not that I know of."

"Favorite song?"

"What's with the twenty questions Adrien and when will I get my turn?" Marinette giggles brushing her hair behind her ear.

"Sorry, it's just the first two dates we barely talked about anything about ourselves, so I'm just trying to learn more things about you Marinette."

Marinette blushes and turns her head away, brushing her hair back in front of her face to try and hide it. Third date between the two of them; they had to wait four days for the weekend until the two of them were free. This time Marinette was able to dress up wearing a bright and sunny yellow dress her mother bought her for her last birthday, with a few lacy touches from herself making the dress stand out more. Her hair was brushed all the way down, nice and neatly against her back and curling around her neck, her straw hat blocking the sun because of the hot day. She looks cute today, he even told her so when he came by her house to pick her up. Not to meet the parents yet, it's way too soon for that and he hasn't even asked her to be his girlfriend, but maybe soon.

"Air Suit No. 3."

Adrien blinks, "excuse me?"

"It's a classical song by Johann Sebastian. I listen to a lot of genres of music, but you pressured me so that's the first one that popped into my mind. My mother tells me she listened to a lot of classical music when I was in her stomach which is probably why I love it so much."

"Air Suit No. 3? Can you sing a few bars? My father made sure to educate me in music; I'm a wiz at the piano, I can't seem to remember that song though."

"N-n-no-no way! That would be embarrassing!" Marinette stutters out.

"And what would be so embarrassing about that? It's just me," Adrien chuckles at her.

"It's because it's you." Marinette mumbles pulling the edges of her hat down.

Adrien stops walking and pulls her aside, "and what do you mean by that Marinette?"

"I'm a bad singing, I probably won't sing it right at all. There's a music store at the end of this path though, I'm sure we can find the CD and listen to it there-"

"Marinette? Can I ask you a question? Last one for the day, I promise, and then you can ask anything you want." Adrien asks her.

"Sure," Marinette says, happy that he's changing the subject.

"What makes you so nervous?"

Her eyes widen, her hands slipping down and hanging beside her, "huh?"

"Since the first time we've met you've always been nervous, or stuttering, or jumpy around me. I didn't notice it at first, but these last few days I've been seeing it and I'm just wondering if it's something I'm doing wrong? Because if it's me you can tell me and I'll try to fix it. You don't have to feel nervous around me and I'm sorry that you have been since we first met-"

"No Adrien! That's not it! That's not it at all! None of this is your fault!" Marinette stands up for him.

"Really? Because I've seen the way you interact with our other friends and Nino and Alix never make you jumpy or faint from being around them. I just don't want you to be doing anything you don't want to be doing. I mean, I know I'm famous and I know I have influences, but I would never use that to hurt you! I want you to know I would never do anything to hurt you-"

"No Adrien! You have completely the wrong idea!"

"Do I?"

"It's not because of you, I mean it is because of you, but it's not because of-"

"So it is because of me? Tell me, what did I do wrong? What did I do to you?"

"No- I, you-I-"

She's about to explode, she's going to explode. How much of a bad person can she be? She's been acting so weird around Adrien that he thinks he did something wrong? That he thinks she's forcing herself to be with him when that isn't the truth at all! The real reason is, the truth is, the truth is-

"I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU ADRIEN!" Marinette screams at the top of her lungs.

Bystanders stop walking and look over; Adrien's eyes widen and he just stares at Marinette's face, watching her cheeks turn pink, her eyes narrow down as tears appears at the corners.

"I'm in love with you! That's why I act so weirdly around you this whole entire time since we first met, it's because I fell in love with you at first sight! So much that I couldn't stop thinking about you, that I couldn't stop dreaming about you, that I bought all your magazines, went to all your photo shoots, even went so far as stalking you to find out your schedule so I could get a single glance at you! Because I love you! And I'm nervous because I don't know what to say around you, because I don't know how to not make a fool of myself and I get all silly and stupid and full of butterflies I feel like flying and throwing up at the same time! And I can't believe this is actually happening, I can't believe any of this is happening, you actually going out on a date with me, it's all so nerve wracking and unbelieve that I think it's all a dream and I'm just waiting to finally wake up from this week long dream and go to school and see you simply smile and wave before walking past me like you always use to do and me smile and talk to Alya about just that small acknowdlegement, never having the courage to do more, to be more, and, and, and... that's it."

She's out of breath, balling up her fists against her dress as she takes deep inhales of breath. She can't believe she just did that, she can't believe she just confessed her deepest and darkest secrets, she can't believe she didn't throw in about being Lady Bug in the mix. Him blaming himself, thinking that he did something wrong to her, she couldn't allow Adrien to think that. Maybe it would have been better to have him think that because now... she just ruined her chances of being together with him.

To her surprise, to both of their surprises actually, Adrien starts laughing. It's lightly at first, a few chuckles, but it grows louder and louder until he's hugging his stomach and cocking his head back laughing carefreely into the wild. That confession, that confession just now! He wasn't expecting it, not one bit! Is this how Lady Bug felt when he suddenly confessed to him? Well, she felt it as unwanted, while Adrien right now feels it more like a compliment. Even his confession to her wasn't as passionate as hers just now, well maybe it was passionate, but it wasn't... stunning like this.

"A-Adrien?" Marinette asks.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, look at me. What type of man makes a woman cry?" Adrien apologizes wiping her stray tears off her cheeks.

"You're not... freaked out? Or disgusted? Or thinking how could I ever be with a girl who stalks me?" Marinette sniffs.

"Marinette, you have to be my most saniest, nicest, prettiest, and slickest stalker I've ever had. I usual notice it when girls stalk me, but with you- nothing." He teases.

"I'm sorry, I'll leave you alone forever now." Marinette whimpers taking a step back.

Adrien grabs her hands though, "let me finish Marinette. Listen and make sure you pay close attention to the next words I'm about to say. I like you. I like you too Marinette. So stop worrying about what I think, you can act calmly and like your usual self, I already have enough people in my life who holds me on a pedastal and treat me like I'm made of glass, so I don't need my girlfriend doing the same thing. I want you to be yourself around me Marinette, I want you to treat me normal, not in any special way at all, and just... I love it when you blush. I love it."

Marinette blushes brightly at his confession making Adrien smile and reach out to brush her cheeks, feeling how warm they are.

"If this is to work I want you to treat me just as a man, and I'll treat exactly the same way, or well, maybe more like a princess since you are my girl."

"You-you-you- just called me your girlfriend."

"Yeah, I didn't make a mistake about that. Or well, I did assume it, so well Marinette? Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

"Am? Am I dreaming right now?" She has to ask.

"No, I don't think you are."

"I have to be. You're acting so nice to me, actually talking to me, saying you like me, asking for me to be your girlfriend, I can't- this is all- it's too much to take Adrien. I mean, you're Adrien Agreste. Millions of girls out there want to be with you and yet here you are talking to me, going out with me and I just... don't understand, so it has to be a dream. It has to be. I've dreamed about this moment for so long and I just- I can't believe it's really happening right now. I can't believe- I can't believe- I can't believe-"

Adrien grabs her shoulders and leans down, pressing their lips together softly to silence her. She goes completely still under his touch and he pulls away just as quickly as he initiated it, cupping her face with his hands.

"This is not a dream, and if that kiss did not convince you then I don't know what will Marinette."

Marinette sniffs, "can you ask me again?"

"Ask you what?"

"If I can be your girlfriend again? I promise not to screw it up this time."

"I rather like how you... screwed it up, but okay. Marinette, will you please be my girlfriend?"

She doesn't answer, but instead nods her head up and down over and over again in his hands. This is real, this is real, her first kiss with Adrien, her first boyfriend being Adrien, him holding her in his arms like this, all of this, all of this, it isn't a dream, it's all real, and he's fine with her being a little weird and spazzy. He's fine with being herself no matter how weird her true self is.

"You can't take this back later when you find out how much of a dork I am," Marinette sniffs.

Adrien laughs, "I promise I won't. Hopefully that nervousness will dissappear the more you get to know me; I'm sure now that we're dating you'll get use to being around me, being with me."

"I already know everything about you Adrien, didn't you hear me before? I buy all your magazines, I've read all your interviews."

"Oh, so then you really do know everything about me. I'm pretty sure I can find a thing or two you don't know, like there was this one time when I was five. I tried to climb a tree in my backyard and ended up falling off of it, chipping from two front teeth. Oh boy my father was so mad at me; I can remember the stern lecture he gave me even before he took me to the dentist to get them fix."

Marinette starts laughing, "I didn't know that."

"And I bet there are tons of other things you haven't read about me in magazines. I'll tell you them all Marinette if you're willing to listen, all you need to do is ask."

"Is it my turn to ask the questions, isn't it?" Marinette finally smiles at him.

Adrien chuckles, "yup, ask away."

"How many girlfriends have you had in the past?"

"Huh? You get straight to it. It'll please you to know that I only had one girlfriend, a fan of mine. It was when my father first started making me model. I wasn't use to the popularity and this girl who I never thought in a million years would look my way suddenly asked me out, I wasn't what she was expecting to be though so she dumped me about a week later and that's when I learned that I should really know who are my friends and who are people who just want to be around me because of my status."

"You don't think I'm like that, do you?" Marinette asks tilting her head.

"Of course not. You're a nice girl Marinette, and if I had any doubts they compeltely went away with how persistent you were trying to split the bill with me for brunch this morning. A girl who was only in it for my money wouldn't have done such a thing. A girl who was only in me for my looks would be showing me off to the world right now, not keeping me all to herself. A girl who was only in me for my fame would be bragging all over the internet, and yet you haven't taken a single picture of us together, not even at our first date."

Marinette blushses, "well I've wanted to, for my own personal collection, but I didn't want you to think of me weirdly. It's too late for that though."

"Hey, I like your weirdness, and I would love to take a picture with you Marinette, for my own personal collection." Adrien says, wiggling his eyebrows.

Marinette giggles and leans in close to him, smiling like she's the happiest girl in the world when he pulls out his camera and snaps a picture of them. She probably is the happiest girl in the world right now.

"Wow, that's a great picture. You really do love me, huh?" Adrien asks staring at her radient smile.

"I do, but you don't have to bluntly say it like that. I think I'm going to faint, this is too much for today." Marinette shys away, hugging herself.

"We can take the rest of the day easy then. Come on, one step at a time." He says holding out a hand out.

She's hesitate in grabbing it, but once she finally does she holds onto it with all her strength and doesn't let go until the end of the date where they have to seperate.


	7. Chapter 7

**BlackLynx17: Hey everyone! I got the job! Starting next week I'll be working at Barnes and Nobles, which I'm super excited for because that means DISCOUNTS ON BOOKS! HOORAY! Because of this I may be taking a break from fanfictions depending on how many days a week I work, so this story might not be updated as frequently. Hopefully that won't happen, but we never know. Thanks for reading everybody, hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 **Scratching The Surface.**

 **Chapter 7.**

* * *

She wakes up differently the next day. She wakes up thinking everything is a dream and Tiki is the one who tells her it isn't, giggling and flying around like crazy above her.

"You did it Marinette! You did it! You're dating Adrien! Congratulations!"

"You mean... that was all real yesterday?" She asks.

She leans up and looks down at herself; she didn't even change her outfit. As soon as Adrien dropped her back he kissed her again before letting her go and Marinette had walked in a daze up the stairs and to her bed, thinking about the entire day before passing out.

"No it wasn't a dream, it was all real and I'm so happy for you! You have to remember though Marinette that just because you have your dream boyfriend now doesn't mean you can forget about your responsibilities as Lady Bug. I know you've loved Adrien for a very long time, but I hope you remember your promise to me as well. He can't know about this other side of you."

"I know Tiki, how could I ever abandon you like that after all you've done for you? If it wasn't for you I'm unsure if I'd even be dating Adrien right now, so of course I won't forget about you."

"Aw Marinette, I'm just making sure. I know how teenage girls get when they get their first boyfriend; I'm just want to make sure you keep your head on straight."

"Right," Marinette nodding her head.

"Other than that I want you to really enjoy this and have fun. Don't worry about it too much, remember what Adrien said yesterday. He wants to like you for you, so be yourself. After he told you that Marinette all my doubts about him flew out of the window. If he really wants to like the real you then I know he's a good person. The minute he does something mean though you just say the word and I'll sneak over and teach him a few good things."

"Aw Tiki, I love you. How am I so lucky to have a good friend like you?" Marinette smiles hugging her close.

"I know, I'm amazing, and I love you too Marinette."

Her phone chimes and Marinette breaks away from this moment to check it, seeing a flustered picture of herself in the arms of her new... boyfriend. Seconds later her new boyfriend's name pops up and she shows Tiki.

"Look! He's calling me right now!" She squeals.

"Well go ahead and answer it!"

Marinette clears her throat before answering her phone, "hello?"

" _Good morning Marinette."_

His voice entices her making her smile brightly, "morning Adrien."

" _Ah- sorry, did you just wake up?"_

"No! I mean, I did just wake up, but I have been awake for a couple of minutes now lying in bed."

" _Hehehe, sorry. So what do you plan on doing today?"_

"Um, Sunday's I usually help my family out at the bakery, and then Alya is coming over later to help me my homework for school tomorrow. How about you?"

" _Photo shoot then a couple of lessons, seems like we're both pretty busy today huh?"_

"Yeah, that's too bad. I want to see you," she lets out a small desire.

" _I'll see if I can stop by then for a visit."_

Marinette blinks realizing her mistake, "what? I mean- no! I didn't mean, you don't have to do that! You said it yourself, we're both pretty busy today. You don't have to go out of your way-"

" _Would you still be saying that if I said I wanted to see you too?"_

Marinette's heart skips a beat.

" _I have to eat, right? And what better place to go get a snack then at a bakery? Don't worry, I'll completely drop in out of nowhere so it'll be a surprise."_

"Adrien!" Marinette giggles.

" _Hahahaha, sorry Marinette, I've discovered that you're really fun to tease."_

"No I'm not," she pouts.

"MARINETTE! ARE YOU AWAKE YET?!"

" _Who was that?"_

"Oh, my Mom. She's wondering if I'm awake yet meaning that she must need my help now. Sorry, but I have to go."

" _No worries, that's fine. I'll talk to you later then? If not in person, than over the phone tonight?"_

Marinette smiles, "I would like that a lot."

"Good by then Marinette," Adrien smiles to himself.

" _Bye Adrien."_

He hangs up his phone and looks over at Plag, "how did I do?"

"Good; if there's anything I've learned from the past it's that woman do not like it when you never call them back. She sounded excited enough to hear your voice. That's the nice girl right who gave you the soup?"

"Yeah, that's Marinette. I would introduce her to you but then she'd wonder why I have a flying talking black cat."

"Ha ha, very funny Adrien. Does this mean that you're over Lady Bug now?"

Adrien flinches lightly, "I-... not completely, but I am ready to move on."

"Alright. I want you to be happy Adrien, but I don't want anyone getting hurt."

Adrien blinks, "hurt? Who's going to get hurt?"

There's a knock on the door, "Adrien? Are you up? The cars coming in thirty, are you going to be ready by then?"

"Yeah, I'm getting up right now! I'll come back and get you Plagg for breakfast, don't mess with anything alright?"

"Adrien, who do you think you're talking to? Me? Mess with anything?" Plagg asks, over-exaggerating a bit.

Adrien chuckles, "I know, what was I thinking? I'll see you in a bit."

He gets up from bed and heads over to the door, peeking back at Plagg before he heads to his bathroom. He wasn't lying about wanting to see Marinette so soon. Him actually having a girlfriend, it's been so long, he didn't want to blow anything up. She already loves him, so that's a plus, he wants to live up to her expectations and deserve her love though. Well, maybe not live up to, he's going to start letting her see the real him and hopefully she'll start separating reality from fantasy while he'll learn more about the real her and hopefully get use to how... spunky she is, but so far Adrien has to admit it he likes her weirdness.

He's hoping she'll like all of his secrets too; it was amazing how she just blurted all of hers out to him like that. Marinette... she really is a brave girl... maybe... maybe if he was that confident and told all his secrets as well maybe then-

"No, you have to stop thinking about her Adrien. You have a girlfriend now, she's the only one who should be on your mind right now." Adrien tells himself, shaking his head for good measure.

He needs to see Marinette to remember her and forget about- he's not even going to think about her. When there's trouble, when he's Chat Noir he will, but when he's just Adrien all he's going to be is just Adrien. Lady Bug, she's obviously decided not to mix her secret life with her real one and has a clear line between the two of them. She was never going to tell him her real identity, she never thought about them being more than just crime fighters, not even about them being friends normally, so it's time Adrien played catch up.

He's going to learn, he's already learning. Mask on he'll think about her, but for the time being with his mask off... the only one who should be on his mind is Marinette.


	8. Chapter 8

**BlackLynx17: Hey everyone! Thanks for reading!**

* * *

 **Scratching The Surface.**

 **Chapter 8.**

* * *

"Man I know I studied this, what comes after the x though? Or maybe I just- grrrr." Marinette growls biting her pen cap.

She's so focused in on her homework rather than watching the front counter she doesn't notice when the bell chimes notifying that someone's walked into the store, nor the shadow that shows on her paper meaning someone is leaving over her. No, Marinette doesn't notice until this person talks to her.

"Try dividing x on both sides."

"I haven't tried that yet, tha- ah!" Marinette screams jumping back.

She falls out of her chair and slams against the ground, Adrien flinching at the loud thud. He quickly leans over the counter to see if she's fine and sees her all tangled up, twitching lightly.

"Sorry, are you alright?" He asks, about ready to jump over and help her if she says no.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. How embarrassing," she mumbles quickly picking herself up.

Marinette stands and dusts herself off, blushing as she sees her new boyfriend and laughs nervously. She gulps and tries to play it off cool, but there's no reason to. He already knows she's a klutz and her making a fool out of herself is nothing new, so instead of smiling nervously and giggling she simply moans and covers her face.

"Can you please forget you just saw that?"

"MARINETTE?! IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT IN THERE?!"

"EVERYTHING'S FINE!" She calls back to her father.

"Really, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that. Note to self, never sneak up on you. I'll never do it again." Adrien apologizes again.

"It's fine Adrien, really, I just need to learn how to stop being so... jumpy. Hi."

"Hehehe, hi Marinette."

"You're here sooner than I expected."

"Well my shooting went really good, so they let me off early." He tells her leaning against the counter.

Marinette sits back in her seat and closes up all her books, brushing her hair behind her ears, "that's nice. It's been pretty slow over here, which you can tell from my homework. Only a couple of more hours until Alya's coming over."

"That's cool."

The two of them share an awkward moment as they stare into each others' eyes, one seeing a glowing green, the other seeing an endless blue. All of a sudden their faces fluster and they both look away. Marinette remembers their kiss yesterday and lowers her head, can't believing she kissed this man, screw kissing, she's dating him right now! What is she doing right now?! Dating mean she has full permission to walk over and touch this man!

Marinette looks behind her shoulder to check on her father in the kitchen before she leaves her post, walking around the counter and throwing her arms around Adrien's shoulders. He stiffens up, his face turning red from her sudden movement, but there's a smile on his face as he places his hands on her waist.

"Is this okay?" She mumbles against his shoulder.

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"

"Just making sure."

She pulls away from lightly and stares at his face, smiling lightly. Adrien gives her a shy smile back.

"So... um... yeah... you're here."

"I'm here," he nods.

"Yeah... so, um... food! Yes! Food! How can I help you?! I'm suppose to be helping you!" She stutters all of a sudden, rushing back behind the register.

How could she forget her father checks on her through the cracks just like how she checks on him? Oh if he didn't see her at her post he would have walked over here and seen her hugging Adrien! Oh no! And if he would have seen that he would be questioning why his little angel had her arms around a boy and then things would have gone bad from there.

Adrien still had his arms out and curved around what use to be her body; she left so quickly it was like in a blink. Slowly he dropped them and saw her blushing behind the counter, giving him a shy smile as she cleared her voice.

"So? What can I get you?" She asks.

"Um... you know honestly all the times I've come here before have been with Nino and he always ordered for me. I've never had the chance to actually see everything... hmm," Adrien hums looking over the colorful pastries.

Marinette giggles lightly at his thinking face and stands up, walking to where the pastries are. She starts putting on gloves and gets a bag ready, seeing him rub his chin as his eyes narrow down.

"Let's see... now I remember why Nino always chose for me, because it takes me so long to decide for myself. Hahaha, what would you recommend for me Marinette?"

"Um, well my favorite is our moon cakes; it tastes sort of like a pie with red bean paste in the middle."

"Moon cakes? I've never heard of those before. Which ones are they?"

Marinette points to the pastries and Adrien leans closer into the class, seeing this cute little golden brown cakes all lined up neatly together.

"It's my mother's recipe for them, and her mother's before her, and yeah I've been having them every since I was a child."

Adrien blinks and looks at her through the glass, "you're not 100% french, right?"

"Ah, no. My mother is Chinese while my father is from here, french."

"Wow, that's pretty cool. So how did that whole thing happen? Or how did Mom come from China or- oh my God, is that the right time right now?" Adrien gasps looking up at the clock, "I'm about to be late to my lesson! We'll finish this conversation later tonight, I'll take three of those please." 

"Oh- right away! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to distract and take too much of your time." Marinette rushes, grabbing the cakes and stuffing them in the bag.

"No, you didn't at all, I was the one who got distracted. How much do I owe you?"

What happened next was all too fast. Marinette was daydreaming about them meeting, embracing, and then flirting showing off more of her good sides to him when he finally came around. Now all the clumsiness she showed him and that short back story that left him with dozens of more questions... she isn't perfect though and he wants to like her just the way she is. If he hadn't have told her that she would have been freaking out much more than usual, but right now she was happy.

"Thank you, please come again." Marinette smiles her brightest at him.

Adrien stiffens and then smiles back, nodding his head, "thanks, I'll see you around Marinette. Um, is seven too late to call you tonight?"

"No, not at all! Seven is perfect!"

"Great, I'll call you around that time then. I'll see you later Marinette, bye."

"Bye Adrien," Marinette sighs out seeing him leave.

She sighs out dreamily seeing him leave and giggle to herself. The next few hours pass by in the blink of the eye and she doesn't even notice Alya walking in or her father standing by her shoulder. All she's looking at is her notebook, writing Adrien, oh Adrien, over and over again.

"Marinette? Earth to Marinette?"

Marinette blinks when she feels someone tapping on her forehead; she jumps up and looks around.

"Hello! Welcome, how can I help you?!" She asks.

She sees her father staring at her worryingly and her best friend smiling lightly, two fingers in the air. It takes her a second to take everything in and notice her notebook open up all the way; she leaps for it and piles it all together, holding it close to her chest as she laughs nervously.

"Alya! You're here! Am I free to go now Dad? Can't have my guest waiting, plus I have all this homework due tomorrow, hahaha, so I'll just go now. Come on Alya!" Marinette stutters grabbing her friend's hand.

She pulls her up all the stairs all the way to her room, closing the locking the door behind her. Alya raises an eyebrow at her friend's twitchiness and drops her bag on the floor, staring down at her friend who passed out and lays on her floor.

"You alright there Marinette?"

"I think I need to get some rest," she mumbles, "I feel exhausted all of a sudden."

"I bet, smooching it up with Adrien yesterday. Huh? Huh?"

Alya blinks softly when Marinette doesn't immediately blush and deny it all; she doesn't deny it one bit and instead just stays quiet.

"No," she whispers covering her mouth, "YOU KISSED ADRIEN!"

"ALYA!" Marinette whines sitting up.

"YOU DID, DIDN'T YOU?! OH MY GOD! TELL ME EVERYTHING!"

"I sort of, maybe, kind of... told Adrien that I loved him all at once and he replied back to me asking to be his girlfriend and then kissed me when I thought it was a dream." Marinette mumbles playing with her fingers.

Alya's face freezes the way it is.

"Alya?" Marinette asks.

She waves her hand in front of her face, "Alya? Oh no, what did I do? I broke Alya! I broke my best friend!"

"You didn't break me Marinette, it's just... I've been listening to you talk about getting Adrien and helping you get him for so long... this is just the greatest moment of my life. Please, please, oh please, please, please you didn't screw it up and tell him no. Please Marinette."

Marinette giggles awkwardly and scratches her cheek, "well you see-"

"Marinette why?!"

"I'm just kidding Alya! Geeze, of course I didn't say no! I'm officially his girlfriend now."

"Oh my God and I'm officially the greatest best friend there is in the world! I better be the maid of honor now at your two wedding since you couldn't have gotten this far without me."

"Of course Alya, I can't think of anyone else other than you."

"It seems that dream of you and him getting married with three kids, a dog- or was it a cat? No, a hamster isn't too far from place."

Marinette blushes bright red, "oh my gosh I did say that, didn't I?"

"Don't worry, you're secret is safe with me. So, I've been waiting all day, scratch that, I've been waiting since I fist saw you saw him. Can you finally tell me what happened between the two of you? How did you get together yesterday?!"

"But what about homework?"

"Screw homework! We'll do it afterward! Please Marinette, you're killing me right now!"

She giggles lightly, "alright Alya, I'm sorry. So, where should I start?"

"Obviously at the beginning so I don't miss any juicy details!"


	9. Chapter 9

**BlackLynx17: I might be taking a break from this fanfiction soon, hopefully not if inspiration hits me to write more chapters, let's pray that it does.**

* * *

 **Scratching The Surface.**

 **Chapter 9.**

* * *

"Hey, Adrien?"

"Hmm?" Adrien mumbles against his pillow.

"Didn't you have someone important to call at night?"

"What Plagg?" Adrien mumbles groggily.

"Never mind, you don't like it when I eavesdrop; just forget I mentioned anything."

"Eavesdropping? You were eavesdropping again? When?"

"Never mind, go back to sleep Adrien. I wasn't eavesdropping on a conversation you had with your girlfriend at all- darn it." Plagg curses and flies away to hide in his secret lair, hoping Adrien won't get mad at him.

Adrien's still trying to wake up from his nap- oh. He checks his clock and sees that it's about to turn 8 o'clock at night. Well what he thought was a nap and turned out to be more like a mini coma. That fencing lesson took everything out of him and the second he returned home around five he thinks he was planning on taking a shower before taking a nap, but as soon as he hit his pillow he knocked straight ou-

…

…

It's 7:49 right now. Why do those numbers look wrong? Why does he feel like-

"NO!" Adrien yells throwing his covers up from his cell phone.

He was suppose to call Marinette! He was suppose to call her! What on Earth is wrong with him? Why didn't he?! His first call as a boyfriend and he's already late! Finally he finds his phone next to his lamp and leaps for it, catching the lamp before it falls over as he unlocks it.

No new calls, one new message, it's from Nino though so that's alright. Adrien doesn't waste a second as he opens his contacts and dials her number, pressing his phone to his ear.

"Come on, come on, come on," he mumbles to himself.

" _Hello? Adrien? Can you hold on for a second?"_

"Hey Marinette- uh, yeah, sure." He tells her.

He walks back to his bed and sits down, hearing a lot of rumbling on the other side of the line. There are few grunts and one loud yell, but then her voice suddenly appears again.

" _Sorry about that, hey Adrien."_

"Listen Marinette, I'm so sorry that I didn't call you sooner. As soon as I got home I was planning on taking a nap, but I lost track of time and only just woke up now and-"

" _No, oh no Adrien, it's fine! Really, it's fine! I was just finishing up some last minute homework problems, not at all staying up waiting for you to call me! I mean I was, but it's not like I was only staying up for you. I know you had a busy day Adrien, so I was hoping that you wouldn't call, no! I mean, only because I was hoping you were resting up for tomorrow at school so you wouldn't have to miss and-... I'm rambling on again, aren't I?"_

"Yes you are, but it's funny and cute. So how was your day?"

" _A little hectic after you left; Alya finally came over and she refused to help me with homework unless I told her the embarrassing story of how we got together."_

"Aw, it wasn't that embarrassing."

" _Maybe for you, but I can't remember the last time I blushed so much. Luckily for me she didn't push too hard for details, so I was able to finish everything but my French homework which is pretty easy."_

"That's cool; I'm pretty good at French myself, so if you need any help feel free to ask me."

" _Thanks Adrien! I don't want to intrude though- I mean you don't have to, I'm doing just fine right now. Like I said before it's pretty easy, so I'm getting things faster than I usual do."_

"Hmm, if you say so. Maybe we could start having study sessions too, I'll invite Nino, you invite Alya, and we could make a party out of it."

" _That would be such a fun day! Oh, I hardly think we'd study though. Hahahaha."_

Adrien chuckles, "yeah, knowing Nino you're probably right."

" _So how was your day Adrien? Did you enjoy the mooncakes? I hope you liked them."_

"Yeah, those little cakes things were delicious! My instructors loved them, I think you got two new customers heading your way soon. They asked where it was from and about your shop."

" _Really? I'm glad! Usually people are afraid of trying new dishes they don't know about, so our chinese ones never sell all that well. The people who are daring enough to try it though never regret it!"_

"Yeah, I was wondering if there was a cheesy flavor of it? "

" _A cheese flavor? Hmm, I've never heard of, but I can try making one. Cheese and red bean paste though? I've never tried those two combinations before."_

"Sorry, he's a real cheese fanatic."

" _Oh no! I really love red bean paste and strawberries; I can't get enough of them."_

"Thanks, I think he'll flip at how tasty it'll be."

" _Hehehe, so Adrien, how was your day?"_

"Oh you know, work wasn't so bad, it was just everything after that. I took a real beating after my fencing classes; my body is in pain all over right now."

" _Which explains why you passed out and only woke up now, right?"_

"Exactly."

" _Well if that's the case don't you want to unwind? I don't mind you calling me back later, or tomorrow even."_

"No way, I was suppose to call you at 7. Our first call as boyfriend and girlfriend and I already messed that up; I still have enough time to shower and unwind. I want to talk to you though right now."

" _Oh... well then, what do you want to talk about?"_

"Good question," Adrien mumbles to himself scratching at his cheek, "you said earlier you were part Chinese right?"

" _Yes, on my mother's side. You see my grandmother migrated here from China with her husband and had my mother; she was childhood best friends with my father and straight out of high school he proposed to her and she said yes. A couple of years later, here I am."_

"That's cool, being Chinese and french."

" _I'm happy you think so! I used to be teased about it when I was younger, but that was before I met Alya. She thought my race was cool too and made me feel that being different is special; I'd totally be a different person right now if it wasn't for her telling me that it's alright to be different from the rest."_

"Yeah, who wants to be a boring french person? Hahahaha!"

" _Oh- no! I didn't mean to insult you Adrien!"_

"You didn't; I didn't take it that way at all, I'm just joking around."

" _Oh, hahaha. You don't seem like a jokester in school."_

Adrien blinks, "I don't?"

" _Yeah, I like that I only know this about you- well, probably Nino as well, but that's only one other person."_

"I wish I could know something about you no one else knows, just so we're even."

" _Um, let me think... well technically you do since you know all my favorite things, but something no one knows at all? I... I like lady bugs."_

Adrien blinks, "what?"

" _Lady bugs? The red and black dotted bugs? I like them, love them actually, which is weird since I'm bad around any other bugs other than butterflies."_

"Since you love lady bugs you must love Lady Bug, the crime fighter."

" _Well I don't LOVE her, but I do love all the good she does from Paris. Her and... Chat Noir. They use to be such a good team."_

"Yeah, use to," Adrien mumbles to himself.

Before he confessed, she rejected, and now everything in between is just awkward as heck and- and-... he doesn't want to think about this.

"Do you have a thing for Chat Noir?"

He hears her choking on the other line, a smile appearing on his face as he can just imagining her blushing face.

" _EXCUSE ME?!"_

"I mean, I wouldn't hold it against you Marinette. He is the most attractive and desired man in all of Paris. Do I have some competition coming my way?"

" _That's not true at all! I think you're the most attractive person in all of person Adrien! Not some guy in a leather suit cosplaying as a cat!"_

He wants to laugh so badly hearing that, some guy in a leather suit cosplaying as a cat, that was a completely new one he's heard, but the other half of him is sort of frozen in place with what she just told him.

" _I mean- I mean- I'm sorry Adrien, it's really late and I have to go now. Bye."_

She hangs up before he has a chance to react and laughter finally wins; he rolls around in his bed laughing to himself. At least he knows he doesn't have to compete with himself! From the sound of things Marinette doesn't fall for men who cosplay either, so there's another thing he doesn't have to worry about!

"I'm about to have a heart attack," Adrien breaks out trying to catch his breath.

"Yo, Adrien? What's happening? What's wrong?"

"Ah Plagg, I really couldn't have chosen a more funny and amusing girlfriend. As it turns out it seems Chat Noir isn't her most favorite super hero."

"Really? But who could be better than us? We're amazing?!"

"Oh, that was a good one. I have to remember that, man in a leather suit cosplaying as a cat." Adrien lets out a few more chuckles.

Plagg floats around and smiles at his partner, watching how much he's changed ever since meeting this new girl. Not once has he broken down crying about Lady Bug, or whisper her name in his sleep, or even think or mumble her name while awake. He's happy that he has his partner back and is also hoping that he'll stay this way not that this Marinette girl is in their life.

If Adrien falls in love with her he won't be in love with Lady Bug anymore and that means he won't be heartbroken every time they fight crime together again. Words don't need to be said, he can feel it being one with Adrien every time he sees her. He doesn't want that for his friend anymore. Lady Bug is a cool person and a good crime fighter, and he totally understands that she doesn't like Adrien, but did she have to put him down so harshly? She's suppose to be cool and yet she completely broke him.

Plagg swears on all the cheese that he loves that he won't let that happen again to his friend. He won't let anyone hurt him, whether Hawk Moth, Lady Bug, or this new girl Marinette. So far she's doing a better job than the rest; Plagg only hopes she'll continue to love him.

He really did miss Adrien's smile, much more than he realized.


	10. Chapter 10

**BlackLynx17: Late update, I've been really busy. I now know why some fanfictions only update like once a month! It's a lot of work updating weekly.**

* * *

 **Scratching The Surface.**

 **Chapter 10.**

* * *

"Mom! I'm leaving now!" Marinette yells out.

"Have a good day dear!" Her mother calls back after her.

Marinette runs down the stairs and hops on her father's back, giving him a quick peck on his check.

"Bye Dad, see you later." She says.

"Have a good day at school Marinette and be careful." He calls after her as she runs out of the store.

Marinette checks her watch and slows her run to a jog, and then a walk. Is her clock broken or did she actually wake up and leave on time? For the first time in her life in... ever?

"Meow."

Marinette stops and turns her head, seeing a black cat yawning on a wall. The cat opened up it's eyes revealing sharp dark green ones, his tail waving back and forth as he stares right at her. Those eyes... they look strangely familiar. Marinette remembers her own little cat, her little cat that she hurt, her little cat she hasn't seen since the last time they fought together. Adrien mentioned him yesterday and just... she misses him.

Not him, not misses him as in wishing she could see him everyday, but more like misses what they use to be, their partnership, how well they use to work together. Tiki said to give him time but... is there really nothing else she can do?

"Meow."

"Ah- kitty." Marinette calls out reaching her hand out.

The cat hisses lightly and jumps off of the wall to the other side, disappearing from sight.

"Marinette?"

She blinks and turns around, seeing a limo behind her with the window rolled down revealing-

"Adrien? What are you doing here? I mean- good morning." Marinette blushes nodding at him lightly.

"Morning, I thought it was you. I'm fine right here Hank, I can walk the rest of the way to school." Adrien says to his driver grabbing his bag.

"But your father-"

"Don't worry about him, if I don't tell anyone and you don't tell then he'll never know, right? I'll see you after school." Adrien waves opening up the door.

Marinette takes a step back and watches her boyfriend step out of his car, waving at the driver to drive off before turning back to her.

"You didn't have to do that- I mean, I could have seen you at school and now you have to walk instead of getting a ride." Marinette mumbles, feeling bad.

"It's good to exercise every now and then; next time I'll give you a ride there though if you rather." Adrien says.

"No, no, no, no thank you! I wouldn't want to impose on you like that and I love walking to school. You never know what you're going to see, like just a few seconds ago I saw a black cat. Luckily for me it didn't cross my path or else I would be having bad luck today, but since it didn't I actually had good luck meeting you here."

"You believe in superstitious stuff like that?"

"Yes and no? Well, I don't really consider black cats bad luck at all, but I do believe in breaking glass and walking under ladders."

Adrien chuckles, "black cats are where you draw the line though?"

"Exactly, is that weird?"

"No, I feel the same way. Wish I could have seen that black cat with you, then again I consider myself lucky for being able to spot you here. Shall we walk to school?"

Marinette blushes and nods her hand, staring at the hand he extends to her. She hesitates for a second, but they are girlfriend and boyfriend and they have kissed before. What could holding hands do? It's not like she's trying to keep their relationship a secret either, and judging by how bold he's being right now, he isn't either.

She grabs his hand and holds it tightly, smiling at him. Adrien grins back and pulls her close, holding his phone up.

"Alright, our first walk to school for our personal collection. Say cheese."

"Huh?" Marinette asks.

He snaps the picture leaving her blinking as he checks it, chuckles at her surprised expression on her face.

"I like this one."

"What? No, I look completely out of place! Erase that and take another one!" She says reaching for his phone.

"No way, this is adorable. I'm not erasing this, but we can try again."

This time she's pouting at him in the picture, which she demands for him to erase again, in which he laughs her off and saves it to his personal collection. Slowly it's starting to grow more and more each passing day.

"I hope you know this means war; get ready for me to start taking pictures when you least expect it."

"Thanks for warning me, I'll be expecting them now."

She puffed out her cheeks at him making Adrien take one more picture of her, laughing as he sees this one holding his phone over her head. Now if she were Lady Bug she could easily kick the phone out of his hand and catch it, but since she's normal Marinette who takes no special classes on why she's able to kick her leg up that high she has to settle for jumping up and down... which does absolutely nothing for her.

This is how Nino and Alya found them waiting at the steps in front of the school. Alya had her camera on video mode recording already while a sly smirk made it's way across Nino's face. He whistled really loudly catching everyone's attention.

"Make way for the new couple everyone! Flirting so early in the morning with your NEW GIRLFRIEND Adrien? You sly dog you," Nino teases.

Marinette immediately pulls her hand away from Adrien's and starts blushing ten shades of dark red, placing her hands over her cheeks to try and hide it. Alya giggles getting a close up of the blushing girlfriend while Adrien uses his now free hand to scratch at his cheek.

"Enough of that Nino," he says.

"Nah man, I always knew the two of you had a thing for each other. Nice work though Marinette, I heard you made the first move." Nino chuckles punching her shoulder lightly.

"What? Huh? Oh, um, thanks," she whispers quietly, trying to hide behind Adrien.

What is with all the eyes staring at her right now? Sure this is a dream come true for her, but all this attention definitely isn't. She isn't Lady Bug right now, she isn't a beautiful majestic super hero, she's just her plain old self and she doesn't want people noticing that about her.

"Nino, quit teasing her. Only I'm allowed to do that," Adrien lectures him.

"Oh man, my boy is already sticking up for his girl. That's what's up," Nino grins.

"Marinette, you just walked to school making your grand debut as Adrien's girlfriend boldly holding his hand in front of everybody. Your thoughts?" Alya asks holding her phone closer to her.

Marinette suddenly sees it and jumps up, "Alya! What are you doing?! Put that away!"

"No way, this news is going to make front page. Would you mind sharing a little kiss between yourself and Adrien? That is sure to get my views up." Alya teases.

"ALYA!" Marinette screams.

She starts chasing her best friend around in circles, trying to get her back. Adrien smiles to himself as he watches, Nino sighing out as he leans against his shoulder.

"Bro, you've really changed. Getting a girlfriend all of a sudden and not even telling me... we're still homies right?"

"Of course Nino, we're friends for life. Marinette is... she's..."

"No need to say it bro, while we may be best friends, even best friends need someone they can hold and cuddle, and let's face it. I'm not all that squishy and huggable." Nino laughs.

"Exactly. You have nothing to worry about losing my attention; you're cool with Marinette, right? I'm sure we'll all get to hang out together."

"Yeah, Marinette's really a sweet girl. I had my suspicions she liked you, but since you never showed any interested I never put two and two together. I honestly didn't even know you had a crush on anyone in this school. What changed bro?"

Adrien looks at his girlfriend's crying face as she grabs her best friend, "a lot's changed. I've set my priorities straightened and learned that this is my life and I should live it to the fullest that I can."

"True that brother, I like your style. I can't wait to see what Chloe does when she hears about this though."

"See Chloe do about what?" Adrien asks looking at him.

"Come on Adrien, I know you're dense, but you can't be oblivious to the way that girl struts herself around you."

"I'm aware of Chloe's... infatuation, but what is she going to do about me dating Marinette? It has nothing to do with her."

Nino whistles lowly, "man you don't know a single thing about women, don't you? I wouldn't be surprised if a cat fight broke out, or maybe she'll just get her Daddy to throw her in jail. A broken hearted woman with her kind of influence, there's no telling what she can do with that kind of power."

"Nino, tell me you're joking right now. Should I be worried?"

Nino scrunches up his face and shakes his head, "you? Nah, she loves you. Your new girlfriend though? I hope you've made some nice memories with her."

"Nino! Tell me you're joking!"

"Alya!" Marinette whines.

"Alright, I think that is enough footage for today. Filming you two holding hands was a goldmine though, a complete goldmine." Alya grins to herself.

"You're so mean, you're suppose to be helping me with Adrien, not riling me up." Marinette frowns controlling herself now.

"I am helping; this footage is for your future kids to watch how their parents first started dating. Trust me, you'll thank me when we're older." Alya says putting her phone away, "now stop pouting and go walk to class with your boyfriend. I promise not to take anymore videos or pictures... for now."

"Alya!" Marinette calls her name out.

"Hey Adrien! Come pick up your girlfriend and walk her to class before she's late!" Alya continues the relentless teases.

"Yeah Adrien, be a good boyfriend and carry her books while you're at it," Nino laughs, joining in.

"Alya!"

"Nino!"

The blushing couple look at each other and sigh, the two of them sharing a similar thought about friends. They find themselves being pushed together until their face to face, both of them smiling awkwardly as their best friends wink and shoot thumbs up.

"Best friends," Marinette rolls her eyes.

"What can you do?" Adrien shrugs at her.

"We heard that," Alya and Nino say at the same time making everyone start laughing.

Their laughter is broken by a loud screech in the air though; this screech has Marinette jumping up in fear clinging to Adrien, Alya flinching, Nino and Adrien looking around trying to see who died. No one had died, but someone was soon going to. Chloe appeared at the top of the stairs with Sabrina cowering behind her, a phone tightly clutched in her hand as her eyes scanned the area.

"What's wrong with her?" Marinette asks.

"Ah- judging by the phone in her hand, she might have seen the video I just posted up of you two." Alya says.

"You posted it up Alya! You told me those were for my children!" Marinette screams.

"MARINETTE!" Chloe yells out at the top of her voice finally spotting her.

"Hope you made good memories," Nino hums patting Adrien's back.

"Who do you think you are? WHO IN THE WORLD DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! ADRIEN IS MY BOYFRIEND! I'VE CALLED DIBS ON HIM FOR YEARS NOW!"

Marinette flinches, blinking a couple of times at Chloe. It takes her a moment to grip herself, but right now she realizes that her worst enemy who always use to flirt with her boyfriend now is trying to stake claims on him. If Marinette lets her walk over her right now, who knows how many other girls are going to come after her doing the same thing. Chloe is the head boss for Adrien's heart, if she stands up to him all the other fans and lackey's are sure to back away.

"Who I think I am! Is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Agreste's girlfriend!"

"Well you can't be Adrien's girlfriend!"

"Says who?"

"The thousand of girls who love Adrien way more than you do!"

Marinette's eyebrow twitch, "no one loves Adrien more than me; my love for him greatly exceeds everyone elses, including yours too Chloe!"

She boldly confessed her love for him without even realizing or remembering that he was still standing right beside her, now covering his mouth to hide his blush while Nino's jaw goes slack and Alya's phone almost slips from her hand as she records.

Chloe turns red in frustration and almost raises her hand to strike; Adrien, already prepared for something like this because of Nino, came between the girls and hold Marinette safely behind him.

"Chloe, hi, good morning."

Chloe blinks and quickly fixes herself up, "oh Adrien! Hello there darling, I'm glad you're here right now. Can you please tell that delusional girl behind to stop spreading lies about you? If you want you let me handle all of this while you go on your merry way to class."

"They aren't lies Chloe, I'm dating Marinette. I like her," Adrien smiles lightly peeking behind his shoulder.

Marinette doesn't hear his confession as she stares at Chloe's defeated face, even going as far as sticking her tongue out at her.

"So please, don't be mean to her. Nothing she's saying are lies, it's all the truth. We're together, like together together."

He grabs her hand to reinforce his point and it's that where Chloe finally breaks. She screams out in frustration to herself before turning around, huffing and stomping as she walks away. Marinette is laughing at her leaving while Adrien sighs out in relief, pressing a hand to his chest.

"Now that was scary."

"I could have taken her," Marinette huffs out nodding her head.

"Wow, go Marinette! First girl to ever stand up to Chloe and live! That's got to feel good, right?" Nino laughs wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"Exactly, tell the world Marinette. Thousands of crying fans right now are wondering how it feels to be dating the love of their lives." Alya says scooting the camera closer to Marinette's face.

"Guys! Stop teasing me!" She whines out.

The warning bell rings again making all the students still up and turn their heads to the school.

"Oh no! We're late!" Nino yells running up the stairs.

"Saved by the bell it seems Marinette, until next time fans!" Alya giggles putting her phone away.

"Come on Marinette, let's go." Adrien says holding out his hand for her.

If they didn't believe the video on Alya's site, that's how the nonbelievers found out that it was official. When Adrien and Marinette ran into class together hand in hand and stared at all the open wide eyes and dropped mouths of their classmates.


	11. Chapter 11

**BlackLynx17: I'm confused. Is Marinette and Adrien in college or not? Because in some episodes they are, and when you look online it does say college students, but in other episodes it says she's in middle school which I don't like because we already have enough children super heroes. I want a college super hero, I'm in college, that's cool to me!**

* * *

 **Scratching The Surface.**

 **Chapter 11.**

* * *

She knows what Tiki said, she knows what Tiki told her, but honestly she doesn't care what Tiki told her! She misses her best friend and Marinette doesn't possibly see a better way to stop him from running away from her as she tries talking to him then now! While the two of them were locked up together in this room while the latest akuma runs around wild and free outside!

"Stand back, I'm going to try a Catacysm."

No! If he does that he'll have to leave straight after or else she'll find out his identity!

"Don't! I can't handle this bad guy alone; if you do that you'll have to leave, right?" Lady Bug asks holding her hands out.

Chat Noir blinks and looks at her, "is the Miraculous Lady Bug actually admitting that she would be nothing without me?"

"Well, I wouldn't say nothing," Lady Bug pouts and huffs at him.

Chat Noir starts laughing and it surprises the both of them. She smiles brightly seeing his carefree face, not being able to remember the last time she's seen it on him. It would be a lie if she said she missed the constant flirting and winks along with the unnecessary touching, but she did... not miss... feel like her day was a little empty-no boring-no different! Without it... without him.

"Chat Noir, are we alright?"

Chat Noir completely freezes at the question.

"I know you said we are, but this is the first time we've actually talked and when I've tried to before you usually run away. If we were okay we wouldn't have to be locked up together in a room, you know? So something has to be wrong with us."

He looks for an escape, but can't find a single one in sight.

"We're fine Lady Bug, fine, never better."

Lady Bug glares at him, "that isn't true and you know it isn't."

"Listen, this really isn't the time we should be talking about this. We should be focusing on getting out of here-"

"Do you swear that you won't run away after we save the city?" She asks.

Chat Noir whistles as he looks away from her gaze.

"See?! If not now, then when? I don't like this Chat Noir! I don't like our relationship right now! We're no better than strangers."

"Well what did you expect," Chat Noir mumbles to himself.

"What was that?!"

"Nothing, we need to leave this place."

"Talk to me first! Tell me the truth!"

"I already did! We're fine!"

"I don't believe you!"

"What do you want me to say Lady Bug?!" Chat Noir yells back at her, feeling backed into a corner.

"The truth!" She screams back, narrowing her eyes as she stares at him.

"You broke my heart!"

Lady Bug finally pulls back.

"You broke my heart Lady Bug! And it hurts being around you! It hurts fighting crime next to you knowing that you don't feel the same way and that's fine! You're entitled to your own feelings, but it hurts that it looks like you don't even care! Like my confession didn't even matter to you! Like it didn't phase you at all because that just makes me feel like you've never felt something like that towards me! Haven't you've ever got your hard broken before?! Do you have any idea how hard it is to be around that person when they don't care at all?!"

"Cha-Chat Noir-"

"Catalysm!" Chat Noir yells out breaking the door down.

He leaves without her, Lady Bug still standing in the room all alone clutching at her chest.

 _Seriously Marinette, you should have left things alone. What did you think was going to happen when you asked?_

"Oh Tiki, it hurts." She whispers.

 _You're just feeling bad, but you didn't do anything wrong Marinette._

"He's my friend though."

 _How can you make this better Marinette? Do you love Chat Noir? Are you going to return his feelings? That's the only solution. What about Adrien?_

She never wanted to hurt him. Chat Noir is someone irreplaceable in her life, someone she does hold close to her heart, but the one who ultimately holds it is Adrien. She can't be with him, but her heart is hurting so much right now for hurting him she doesn't know what's right and what's wrong anymore.

 _Marinette, we don't have time for this. Chat Noir's ring is about to go out and if that happens we'll be alone._

"I- I-" Lady Bug sniffs and rubs her eyes, hardening her mind and body.

She doesn't have time to be feeling this way, especially with so many lives at stake. She races outside to join Chat Noir in the fight, struggling a little bit before their teamwork effort finally captures the akuma and set it free. She expects Chat Noir to run away from her like he always does, especially after the fight they had earlier, but he stays behind.

"Lady Bug... I'm sorry." He mumbles sighing out.

"No Chat Noir, I should be apologizing-"

"No, you shouldn't. I'm the one who confessed to you and made everything this awkward in the first place. I expected too much from you and just... I couldn't stand another day not knowing if you loved me or not, not knowing if we could be together already if I simply took the first step and dove in."

Lady Bug gasps and covers her mouth.

"I... I'm not sorry about confessing, your rejection helped me open my eyes and it finally put my wondering and heart at rest. I'm sorry about avoiding you though, which isn't a cool thing, so I'm going to start being better. I'm getting over my heartache, it's just going to take some time. You can't instantly fall out of love with a girl like you. We can't go back to what we use to be right now, but one day in the very near future we will Lady Bug. See, here's the first step to that."

Chat Noir gives her one of his playful grins and holds his fist out to her.

"Friends?"

Lady Bug doesn't say anything, simply staring at his fist stretched out to her. His ring starts beeping making him laugh a bit.

"Can we hurry it up? I'm about to run out of juice here."

"Maybe... if it hurts to much... maybe it's better if we work separately?" She asks.

Chat Noir's face falls, "you can't mean that."

 _Adrien! Our time is really almost up! If you don't leave now she's going to find out who you are!_

"You can't- I have to- we're friends! We'll always be friends Lady Bug, I'll always be your partner." Chat Noir tells her.

He walks up and grabs her hand, balling it into a fist and bumping them together. Lady Bug looks up at him and he looks right back down at her before running off, escaping from the roof top. Her heart is hurting even more than before now; she crumbles down to her legs and sighs out.

 _Marinette!? What were you thinking?!_

"It hurts to be around me. I don't want to hurt him anymore Tiki."

 _That's just a broken heart! If you still listened to him you were have heard him say that he'll get over it soon enough and everything will be better again!_

"I don't want to hurt him anymore Tiki!" Lady Bug screams out, "I... I've already hurt him enough."

 _Marinette... you silly girl. He wants to stay friends._

"Yeah right, if he wanted that then he would have confessed."

 _I can tell you a millions things Marinette, but if you don't want to feel better about this then they won't work. What do you want me to say?_

Lady Bug doesn't say anything. She simply stands back up on her feet and starts to make her way home, Chat Noir running all around her mind. Everything would be better if he would have never confessed. If he would have just be happy with them fighting crime together. She wouldn't have to worry about him or feel this way at all, at home, during school, with Adrien, none of these feelings would be happening right now.

Because how can she be so positively happy with everything in her life now that she has Adrien when Chat Noir is absolutely miserable because of her? How could she get the love of her life when Chat Noir couldn't get his? He's a great guy! Strong! Athletic! Extremely handsome! He's funny when he's not flirting, nice when he's not annoying, he's a real charmer and playboy and he's not a bad guy! He really isn't! He's just not the guy she's been chasing after.

He's not the one she's fallen in love with.

So where does that leave them now? She's going to fight crime without him? Ignore him like he's ignored her before? No, that won't get them anywhere. That's the problem they had before and she's still going to have this pain in her chest if she does that to him.

Does she really have to simply wait?

Not do a thing? Is she really so useless? Not being able to fix this one bit? There's nothing she can do, nothing she can do. She can't even be there for her friend and consul him since she's the one hurting him! What is wrong with her?! Why did- why did-

"Tiki... am I a bad person?"

 _No Marinette. If you were a bad person you wouldn't be caring about this as much as you are now. You're a good friend._

She takes a small breath and sighs out, "what should I do Tiki?"

 _Like I said before, wait. He's going to get over it, you're going to get over it, one day the two of you will forget about this. Just be there when he needs you to be like a friend would. You heard it, he wants to be friends._

Lady Bug sighs out and looks up at the clouds. She knows she shouldn't be saying this, she's already an adult and in college, but still she can't help it.

"I'm too young to be going through this."


End file.
